Checkers online: Naija draughts, free

What is draughts?

Draughts (checkers in America) is a two-player game on an 8 by 8 board. Each player starts with twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them. The aim is simple: capture all your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no move to make.

In PylotGames the board has a wooden frame with cream and deep green squares, and the pieces are bottle caps. Cream always moves first.

How to play checkers

1. Move diagonally. Tap one of your glowing pieces, then the square you want. Pieces only ever stand on the dark squares. An ordinary piece (a "man") steps one square diagonally forward.
2. Capture by jumping. Jump over an enemy piece into the empty square right behind it, and that piece is taken. If you can jump again from where you land, keep going in the same turn.
3. Finish what you start. Capturing is always your choice: you are never forced to jump. But once you start a jump, you finish the whole chain.
4. Crown a king. Reach the far row and your cap is stacked on another to become a king. Crowning ends your turn.
5. Win. Take every enemy piece, or leave your opponent with no legal move.

Naija draughts or classic checkers

Same board, two ways to play it. You choose before every game, and online the host chooses for the table.

Naija Draughts

The street-corner way. Men capture forwards and backwards. A crowned king is a flying king: it slides any distance along a diagonal, and can jump an enemy piece from far away, landing on any free square beyond it.

Classic Checkers

English checkers. Men move and capture forwards only, and a king moves and captures one square at a time, in any direction.

In both rule sets capturing is optional, so a jump is never forced on you. Plan your traps with that in mind: your opponent does not have to take the bait.

How a game of draughts ends

• Win by capturing all your opponent's pieces or blocking them so they cannot move.
• Draw when the same position comes up three times.
• Draw when forty moves each go by with no capture and no man moving, so two kings cannot chase each other forever.
• Give up any time with the Give up button; your opponent takes the game.

Play checkers with a friend using a room code

Your people are far away? No wahala. Every game on PylotGames has private tables you open with a code:

1. Create a free account. Online play needs a username and password. Guests can still play the computer.
2. Open Checkers, tap Play online, then Private table. You get a four-letter table code on a yellow danfo number plate.
3. Send the code. Tap Copy code and drop it in your WhatsApp group, or just read it out.
4. Your friend joins. They open Checkers, tap Play online, type the code and tap Join.
5. Start the game. Checkers is for two. The host picks Naija Draughts or Classic Checkers and taps Start game. Nobody free? The host can add a computer player instead.

Games you finish at a private table show up in a friends scoreboard under the game, so you can see who is really the boss of the group. Prefer strangers? Tap Quick match to sit with whoever has been waiting longest, or open a table and wait in the live lobby list.

Play draughts against the computer

Tap Play the computer, pick the rules and a level. Easy leaves pieces hanging, Normal is a fair fight and Hard thinks ahead. You can play as a guest with no sign-up, and once the game has loaded it keeps working offline.

Draughts tips

• Hold your back row. While your last row is full, your opponent cannot crown a king.
• Take the centre. Pieces in the middle of the board have more moves and are harder to trap.
• Move in pairs. A piece with a friend behind it cannot be jumped from the front.
• In Naija rules, fear the flying king. It can strike from the other side of the board, so check every long diagonal before you move.
• Use the optional capture. Since nobody is forced to jump, you can refuse a bad trade that would open your back row.