An 8×8 board and twenty-four discs to cut out — plus spares for crowning kings — with the mandatory-jump rule printed where nobody can claim they didn't know.
Twelve discs each, set on the dark squares of the three rows nearest you. Discs slide one square diagonally forward, and capture by jumping an adjacent enemy disc into the empty square beyond. Chains are allowed — one disc can take two, three, four in a single turn if the jumps line up.
Jumps are mandatory. If a capture is available, you must take it, and forced captures are the engine of real checkers strategy: strong players deliberately offer one disc to force open a double capture back. Playing jumps-optional turns the game into something much shallower — the rule is printed on the sheet so the debate ends before it starts.
A disc reaching the far row is crowned — stack one of the spare discs on top. Kings move and capture both forward and backward, which changes everything about the endgame; two kings will run down a lone disc without fail.
Capture every enemy disc, or leave your opponent with no legal move — both end it. Draws happen when neither side can force progress, most often king-versus-king standoffs.
Want an opponent at midnight? Our checkers game plays three levels and never claims it didn't see the jump.
Which squares do you play on? Only the dark ones — all thirty-two of them, all game.
Can regular discs capture backward? No — only kings move and capture backward in standard American checkers. (Some international rules differ; agree if your table mixes traditions.)