Checkers is one of the oldest games still played today, with roots stretching back thousands of years. The version on your screen is the descendant of an ancient Middle Eastern game, reshaped in medieval France, named in England, and finally — in our own century — solved by computers. Here's the story.
Who invented checkers, and when?
No single person invented checkers; it evolved over millennia. Its most direct ancestor is Alquerque, an ancient strategy game from the Middle East played on a 5×5 grid. The modern game we recognize — diagonal moves and captures on an 8×8 board — took shape in southern France around the year 1100, when someone adapted Alquerque's rules to a chessboard.
How old is checkers?
Extremely old. A board game resembling checkers was found in the Mesopotamian city of Ur (in modern Iraq) and dates to around 3000 BC. Alquerque boards have been carved into temple stone at Kurna, Egypt, dating to roughly 1400 BC, and the game is mentioned in writing by the 10th century. So while "modern" checkers is about 900 years old, its lineage runs back several thousand years.
What was Alquerque?
Alquerque (from the Arabic al-qirkat) was played on a 5×5 board of intersecting lines, with light and dark pieces that moved and captured by jumping — clearly the seed of checkers. It spread through the medieval Islamic world and was carried into Europe by the Moors during their presence in Spain, where it was recorded in the Book of Games commissioned by King Alfonso X of Castile in the 13th century.
How did it become the game we know?
Around 1100, in France, the leap was made: Alquerque's pieces and capturing were combined with the 64-square chessboard. The new game gained twelve pieces per side and was called Fierges (or Ferses), and also Le Jeu Plaisant de Dames — "the pleasant game of ladies," as it was seen as a genteel social pastime. This is the direct ancestor of every version played today.
Where does the forced-capture rule come from?
The mandatory-capture rule — the one that makes checkers so tactical — was added in France around the 1530s. The version with compulsory jumps became known as Jeu Forcé, while the older optional-capture game kept the name Plaisant. Jeu Forcé is essentially the game played in Britain as draughts and in America as checkers.
Why is it called "draughts" in some countries and "checkers" in others?
They're the same game under two names. In Britain and much of the world it's called "draughts" (from an old word meaning "to draw" or "to move"). When the game crossed to North America it became "checkers," after the checkered board. The naming split is purely regional — the rules of the standard game are identical.
When were the rules written down?
The first known book on the game was published in Valencia, Spain, in the 1540s. The first English-language treatise came in 1756, written by William Payne, a London mathematician — the work that helped formalize the rules of draughts. Organized competition followed in the 1800s, with the first world championship contested in the mid-19th century.
Checkers and the history of computers
Checkers has a special place in the story of artificial intelligence. In 1952, IBM researcher Arthur Samuel wrote a checkers-playing program that learned from experience — one of the earliest demonstrations of machine learning. Decades later, in 2007, a University of Alberta team led by Jonathan Schaeffer announced that checkers was solved: with perfect play, the game is a draw. From an ancient board scratched in temple stone to a problem cracked by computers, checkers spans the full history of strategy games.
Play a piece of history
You're looking at the latest chapter — the same game, thousands of years on. Start one against the computer or a friend: play now. Curious how it compares to its old rival? Read Checkers vs Chess, or find out what it means that the game is solved.