Learn the game

Checkers rules

Learn the Checkers rules used in DeNiro Card: the board, legal moves and how to win. House rules vary; these are the rules at DeNiro Card tables.

How to play Checkers

1. You are red with 12 pieces on the dark squares and move first; the computer is black.
2. Men move one square diagonally forward. Kings move diagonally in any direction.
3. Capture by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece to the empty square beyond. Captures are mandatory: if any of your pieces can jump, only jumps are legal.
4. After a capture the same piece must keep jumping while it can. Reaching the far row crowns a King and ends the turn, even if more jumps exist.
5. You lose when you have no pieces left or no legal move on your turn.
6. Draw (stake returned): 60 moves in a row with no capture or crowning, or the same position with the same side to move three times.
7. The computer plays one fixed strength; there is no difficulty setting.
8. Your clock: at a coin table against the computer you get up to 90 seconds for each move, and the table header counts down the exact time left. If it runs out, the table plays that move for you on the merits. You are not forfeited, nothing extra is charged, and your stake and payout are unchanged. Each of your first three missed moves keeps the full clock; miss a third in a row and the rest of the hand runs at computer speed, about two thirds of a second a turn, which in practice finishes it for you. Making one move yourself puts the full clock back. An Online table against real people runs its own, separate clock; watch the same countdown there.

Common questions

Playing in DeNiro Card

Practice lets you play any game with no account and no coins. Coin tables use virtual play coins and need a DeNiro account; choose a coin stake before joining one. Leaving an active coin game forfeits the stake and adds a 10% leaving fee. Play coins have no cash value and cannot be cashed out.

More game rules

• Spades rules
• Hearts rules
• Bid Whist rules
• Euchre rules
• Pitch rules
• Tonk rules
• Gin Rummy rules
• Rummy 500 rules
• Color Match rules
• War rules
• Go Fish rules
• Old Maid rules
• Blackjack rules
• Solitaire rules
• Tic-Tac-Toe rules
• Dominoes rules
• Five Dice rules

All game rules