The rules of Italian draughts
In brief
- Two players, 12 pieces each, on the dark squares of an 8 × 8 board. White starts.
- The man moves one square diagonally and captures only forward. It can never capture a king.
- The king moves only one square, in all four diagonal directions, and also captures backward.
- Capture is mandatory. When there are several captures, 4 priorities decide which one to play.
- You win when your opponent has no pieces left or no possible move.
These rules are those of the app, which follows the rulebook of the Italian Draughts Federation (see the sources). Every diagram has been verified by the app's rules engine.
- starting square
- landing squares
- captured piece
- king (crowned man)
The board and the starting position
The board has 64 squares; you play only on the 32 dark squares. It is set up so that the corner square at the bottom right is dark. The dark squares are numbered 1 to 32, from left to right and from top to bottom, starting from Black's corner: this is the official notation, used throughout this site.
At the start, Black occupies squares 1 to 12 and White squares 21 to 32; squares 13 to 20 are empty. White plays the first move, then players alternate turns.
A move is written with the starting square and the arrival square: "22-19". A capture is written with an x: "29x22x15x6".
The man
The man moves one square diagonally to an empty square. It never moves backward. It captures only forward, and only men: a man can never capture a king, even if the square behind it is empty.
The king
A man that reaches the last row, on the opposite side, becomes a king; on a real board, a second man of its color is placed on top. The king moves one square only, forward or backward, along all four diagonals. It captures the same way, by jumping an adjacent piece, man or king. In Italian draughts, there is no "flying" king that travels along a whole diagonal.
Mandatory capture and multiple captures
When one of your pieces can jump over an adjacent enemy piece and land on the empty square right behind it, you must capture. If, after that jump, the same piece can capture again, it keeps going in the same move: this is a multiple capture.
Captured pieces stay on the board until the end of the multiple capture, then all are removed. A piece cannot be captured twice in the same multiple capture.
Capture priorities
When several captures are possible, you must play the one that comes first in this order. If two captures are still tied on all four points, you choose.
- The most pieces. You must play the capture that takes the most pieces.
- Capture with a king. With an equal number, the capture must be made by a king rather than by a man.
- The most kings. Next, the capture that takes the most kings.
- Kings earliest. Finally, the capture that meets a king earliest in the multiple capture.
The most pieces
Capture with a king
The most kings
Kings earliest
Promotion
A man that reaches the last row while capturing stops there, even if, as a king, it could capture again backward. It becomes a king at the end of the move.
The end of the game
You win when your opponent, on their turn, has no pieces left or cannot make any move because their pieces are blocked.