Printable checkers board
A standard 8 by 8 checkers board with the playing squares shaded, one board per sheet. Line it up behind the pieces from any boxed set, or use coins and bottle caps for a game that costs nothing.
No print dialog? Press Ctrl + P (on a Mac, ⌘ + P), or use your browser's File → Print.
Checkers
Twelve pieces each · shaded squares are the playing squares
What is on the sheet
- One 8 by 8 board, with the playing squares shaded in grey so they survive a black and white printer without flooding the page with ink.
- Twenty-four empty squares for pieces: twelve per player.
- No numbers or letters, because checkers does not need coordinates to be played.
Setting up
Each player takes twelve pieces and fills their three nearest rows, dark squares only. The two middle rows start empty. The nearest row on each side is the one that can be promoted, so give each player the side they are sitting on: pieces move away from their own edge, towards the opponent's.
If you do not have a set, use twelve coins against twelve bottle caps, or twelve pieces of one colour of paper against another. The board only needs to make the dark squares obvious.
Rules in five lines
- Pieces move one square forward, diagonally, onto a dark square.
- You capture by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond it.
- Captures are compulsory. If a jump is available, you have to take it, and if several are available you choose which.
- A piece that reaches the far row becomes a king and can then move and capture backwards.
- You win when the other player has no pieces left or no legal move.
Printing tips
Print at 100 percent and the squares will be just under 20 millimetres, which fits pieces from a standard set. Ordinary paper is fine if the board is flat on a table; card holds up better if the board is going in a bag. Print two boards per sheet by selecting two pages per sheet in your printer dialog if you want a spare, and print a second copy if the game is going to a club or classroom.
The online version
The browser version of checkers plays the same rules against a computer that searches four moves ahead, with compulsory captures and kings. It is the fastest way to learn why three pieces left guarding your back row matter more than one piece pushed forward too early. The rest of the board games are on the classic games page.