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50 free Checkers trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Checkers looks simple, but most people know the rules and not where they came from. The game grew out of Alquerque, a Moorish game described in a 1283 Spanish manuscript, moved onto the chess board in medieval Europe, picked up mandatory capture in France and the "huffing" penalty for anyone who skipped a jump, and split into a 64-square English game and a 100-square international one with flying kings. These 50 questions cover the rules, the history and the people. Who moves first, what a crowned man gains, why the board numbers run 1 to 32, and what three-move restriction does to tournament play. You will meet Marion Tinsley, the mathematics professor who lost seven games in 45 years, and Chinook, the University of Alberta program that took his man-versus-machine title and then spent 18 years proving that perfect checkers is a draw. There are questions on Strachey's 1951 program, Lasca, Russian towers and the draw crisis in the international game. Easy questions stick to the rules on the box; the hard tier asks about Isidore Weiss, Baba Sy's missing visa and the shortest possible game. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something either way.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which side traditionally moves first in checkers?
The darker pieces
Players then alternate turns, and only the dark squares of the board are used.
Q 02What older game is checkers developed from?
Alquerque
Alquerque was played on a 5x5 grid of intersecting lines and reached Spain with the Moors.
Q 03The word "draughts" derives from which verb?
To draw
"Checkers" comes instead from the checkered board the game is played on.
Q 04On what size board is international draughts played?
10×10
It uses fifty playing squares, flying kings and compulsory majority capture.
Q 05Canadian checkers is played on a board of what size?
12×12
Malaysian and Singaporean checkers, known locally as dam, use the same 12×12 board.
Q 06Who led the team that weakly solved American checkers in 2007?
Jonathan Schaeffer
Their result showed perfect play from the start position always ends in a draw.
Q 07With perfect play by both sides, how does a game of American checkers end?
In a draw
The proof took hundreds of computers nearly two decades of work.
Q 08Which part of the board do the pieces ever occupy?
Only the dark squares
Pieces move diagonally, so half the board never comes into play.
Q 09What is the row where a man becomes a king called?
The kings row
A king is marked by stacking a second piece on top of the first, known as crowning.
Q 10What is the informal name for a piece that can move any number of squares diagonally?
A flying king
American checkers has no such piece; its kings only gain the ability to move and capture backwards.
Q 11In most non-English languages, checkers is called by a word meaning what?
Ladies
Dame, dames and damas all refer to ladies; the promoted pieces are called dames too.
Q 12Which 1283 manuscript commissioned by Alfonso X gives the rules of checkers' ancestor game?
Libro de los Juegos
It describes twelve pieces per side on twenty-five positions, capturing by jumping.
Q 13Around what year was the European checkers game already being played, probably in southern France?
1100
Moving the game to the checkered board and diagonal-only movement cost it half the squares.
Q 21Which English mathematician wrote the first English book on draughts in 1756?
William Payne
Samuel Johnson contributed the book's foreword.
Q 22In what year was the World Draughts Federation (FMJD) founded?
1947
Its founders were the French, Dutch, Belgian and Swiss organisations, and it has run championships every two years since 1948.
Q 23Senegalese player Baba Sy's 1963 world title match was never played because of what?
A denied Soviet visa
Soviet players otherwise dominated the international game from 1958 through the 1970s.
Q 14Which branch of the game kept straight-line movement on a plain 8×8 board?
Turkish draughts
Its "long king" can move multiple squares in any orthogonal direction.
Q 15In 1243 the game was known as Fierges, a name also used for which chess piece?
Queen
Fierges comes from the Persian ferz, meaning a royal counsellor or vizier.
Q 16What was the medieval French variant with compulsory captures called?
Le Jeu Forcé
The optional-capture "jeu plaisant de dames" was the precursor of international checkers.
Q 17What was the penalty called when a player who failed to capture lost the offending piece?
Huffing
Players sometimes skipped a capture on purpose when losing the piece hurt less than making the jump.
Q 18Who held on longest to the rule of removing a piece that skipped a capture?
English speakers
European draughts only abandoned the rule in the late 19th century.
Q 19The 10×10 game that became international draughts emerged around 1700 under what national name?
Polish
Legend credits a Polish courtier in Paris in 1723, but a 1710 dictionary already asked "Can you play Polish draughts?"
Q 20Under the majority rule, which jump sequence must a player choose?
The one taking most pieces
It is a rule of international draughts; American checkers lets the player choose any sequence.
Q 24How many consecutive draws did the 1971 Andreiko–Koeperman world championship match produce?
Twenty
The flying king's defensive power means capturing a lone king usually takes four pieces, not two.
Q 25Which ten-time world champion withdrew from international draughts in 2016, citing endless draws?
Alexander Georgiev
By 2015 all seven regulation games of the world championship had been drawn.
Q 26Which world chess champion invented the tower-building checkers variant Lasca?
Emanuel Lasker
Jumped pieces go under the jumper to form towers; only the top piece of a tower is captured.
Q 27Cheskers, in which men promote to a bishop, camel or king, was invented by whom?
Solomon Golomb
The camel jumps with coordinates (3,1) so it always stays on the black squares.
Q 28Damath, a variant using numbered chips and maths principles, is popular in which country?
Philippines
It is one of several modern designs alongside Dameo, Hexdame and Loca.
Q 29In which variant is the aim to lose all your own pieces?
Suicide checkers
It is also called anti-checkers, giveaway checkers or losing draughts.
Q 30Which Russian variant lets you move your opponent's pieces as well as your own?
Stavropol
Bashni, by contrast, stacks captured men under the capturing piece to build towers.