Turkish Checkers – An Exciting Variation of Checkers

With all of the subtle and not so subtle variations of the game of checkers, there is certainly no way that you can ever get tired of playing the game. It is perhaps a testament to the game of checkers longevity and universal appeal that so many different versions of it exist all over the world.

One of these versions is Turkish checkers and as you may have guessed from the name, it is played primarily in Turkey.

The Rules of Turkish checkers

Turkish checkers is played on an 8x8 checker board. Its rules are actually a lot different from all of the other checkers variants played all over the world. One of the biggest differences with Turkish checkers is the starting position of the game. In this variation, the board is arranged in such a way that the double corner is towards the right of each player, and the player with the white pieces makes the first move.

The Moves of the Turkish Checkers

Each of the regular pieces of the game is allowed to move one square in a forward direction on the file or in a sideward on the rank. When a piece reaches the last line of the opposite end of the checker board, that piece is crowned and becomes a king. Kings are allowed to move any distance in an open line toward any direction including vertical and horizontal.

Captures in Turkish Checkers

Each player must make the maximum number of captures that are possible in a single turn. If the option to capture 2 and 3 of the opposing player’s checkers pieces within a single turn, the advancing player must choose the move that will result in 3 pieces being captured.

Unlike many other versions of checkers, Turkish checkers allows the advancing player to remove each captured piece before going on with the rest of the jump. This can open up additional possibilities for captures.

Regular checkers pieces can only capture in the same directions that they can move. They also have to go on jumping if there are additional moves possible. A king on the other hand can capture in any direction that it is allowed to move. Kings can jump to a vacant square adjacent to the opposing player’s checkers piece, no matter how far away it is.

Winning in Turkish Checkers

The game ends when one player no longer has any legal moves left.