Brazilian Draughts

Brazilian Draughts

International Draughts rules applied to an 8×8 board. Combines the smaller board’s faster gameplay with the tactical depth of flying kings, mandatory longest-chain capture, and delayed removal. The standard competitive game in Brazil.

Setup

Board: 8×8 checkered board, dark squares only. Same layout as English Draughts.

Pieces: 12 men per player on dark squares of the three nearest rows.

First move: White moves first.

Rules

• Men movement: Men move diagonally forward only, one square at a time.
• Men capture: Men capture by jumping diagonally over an adjacent opponent piece. Men can capture both forwards and backwards.
• Mandatory capture: Captures are compulsory.
• Majority rule: When multiple capture sequences are available, the player must choose the sequence that captures the most pieces.
• Delayed removal: Captured pieces remain on the board until the entire multi-jump sequence is complete. A jumped piece cannot be jumped again, but it still physically occupies its square during the sequence.
• No mid-jump promotion: If a man passes through the back row during a multi-jump (without ending there), it is NOT promoted. Promotion only occurs when the piece ends its turn on the back row.

King Promotion

• Flying kings: Kings move any number of unoccupied squares diagonally in any direction.
• King capture: Kings capture by jumping over a single opponent piece at any distance along a diagonal, landing on any open square beyond.

Winning

A player wins when their opponent has no legal move: all pieces captured or all pieces blocked.

Draws

Same conditions as International Draughts.

Strategy

The majority rule on a smaller board makes combinations more immediately available than in 10×10 International. Flying kings dominate the endgame decisively. The delayed removal rule creates situations where a “dead” piece still blocks a capture path within the same sequence.

Attribution

Traditional variant. Public domain. Governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Jogo de Damas. Source: Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA).