How to play Turkish checkers: rules, strategy and tips

Turkish checkers, or dama, is checkers with a twist: pieces move straight instead of diagonally, capturing is compulsory, and a crowned king flies the length of the board. You can learn the rules in five minutes, but forced captures turn every move into a possible trap. This guide covers the complete rules and the ideas that win games.

Play Turkish Checkers

What is Turkish checkers and how is it set up?

Turkish checkers is a two-player game on an 8x8 board. Unlike most checkers, square colours don’t matter: all 64 squares are used.

Each player has 16 pieces. Your back row stays empty, and your pieces fill your second and third rows, 8 per row. Your opponent sets up the same way on rows 6 and 7.

So both back rows start empty, with two empty rows in the middle. Your opponent’s back row is where your pieces get crowned.

Turkish checkers rules, one by one

A piece moves one square straight forward, left or right. Never backward, never diagonally.
A piece captures by jumping over an adjacent opponent piece in front of it or beside it, landing on the empty square directly beyond. Pieces can’t capture backward.
Capturing is mandatory. If you can capture, you can’t make a normal move.
If the same piece can capture again after landing, it must keep going. The whole chain counts as one move.
If there are several capture routes, you must take the one that captures the most pieces. Kings and regular pieces count the same here. Between routes that tie, you choose.
Captured pieces are removed immediately, so later in the chain that square is empty and can be crossed.
In a chain you can’t reverse straight back in the direction your previous capture came from.
A piece that reaches the far row becomes a king, but only if it ends its move there. If it reaches the far row in the middle of a capture chain, it continues as a regular piece, jumping sideways along that row.
A king moves any number of squares in a straight line in all four directions. It can capture a single opponent piece at a distance if the way is clear, and land on any empty square beyond it.
If it’s your turn and you have no pieces or no legal move, you lose.
If each side has just one king left and the player to move can’t capture, the game is a draw.
If 50 moves pass for each side (100 in total) without a capture, the game is a draw.

How a move works

First check for captures. If there are any, you must capture, and you must find the route that takes the most pieces.
If there are none, pick the piece you want to move. Tap it and the squares it can reach light up.
Before you move, think about the reply: can your opponent capture anything after this, and how long would that chain be?
Tap a lit square. If a capture chain has only one way forward, your piece continues on its own; if there are several, you tap the next square.
If your piece ends the move on the far row, it’s crowned and the turn passes.

Opening and early game

At the start two empty rows separate the armies, so nobody can capture in the first few moves. Use that quiet phase to build your structure.

Advance in groups, not one piece at a time. Pieces protect each other: a piece with a friend directly behind it can’t be captured from the front, and a piece with a friend beside it can’t be captured from that side.

The central columns matter more than the edges. Control the middle and you push your opponent’s pieces towards the sides and limit their options.

The first contact is critical. Before moving next to an enemy piece, count who captures first and whether that capture turns into a chain.

Turkish checkers strategy and tactics

Use forced captures as a weapon. Offer a piece on purpose and the capturing piece has to land where you want it, often setting up a two- or three-piece chain for you. Most combinations in Turkish checkers are built on this idea.

Factor in the maximum capture rule. Because your opponent must take the route that captures the most, you can often dictate which piece they capture with.

A king changes everything. It controls whole lines and captures from a distance, so the first piece to slip through a gap in the enemy back lines often decides the game.

Don’t abandon your back defence. Pieces can’t move backward, so if you push everything forward there’s nobody left to stop an enemy piece from crowning.

Once your opponent has a king, don’t leave lone pieces on its open lines. Lock your pieces side by side or one behind the other.

In the endgame, tempo matters as much as material. Leaving your opponent with no legal move is also a win, so save the pieces that can make harmless waiting moves.

Common beginner mistakes

Forgetting that captures are forced. The free piece you’re offered may be bait that drags you into their chain.
Thinking diagonally. In Turkish checkers both pieces and kings move and capture only in straight lines.
Sending pieces forward alone. A piece with nothing behind or beside it is easy prey.
Underestimating a king’s range. It can capture a piece at the far end of an open line.
Missing the longest capture route. A shorter route is illegal when a longer one exists.

A short history of Turkish checkers

Draughts games are an old family played with different rules around the world. In many countries pieces move diagonally and only the dark squares are used.

Turkish draughts is a separate branch where pieces move orthogonally and every square is in play. Besides Turkey, it’s played in many parts of the Middle East.

In Turkey, dama is one of the most played board games in coffeehouses and parks, usually with a small crowd watching and handing out advice nobody asked for.

Playing Turkish checkers on Stockboi

Against the computer: choose Easy, Medium or Hard. Easy is distracted about half the time, Medium looks a few moves ahead but slips now and then, and Hard calculates deep. You open the first round, then the first move alternates.
With a friend: tap Play with a friend and send the link. The moment your friend opens it, you’re at the same board.
Random opponent: get matched with someone who wants to play right now. If nobody turns up, we tell you clearly and you can play the computer instead.
Online you have 60 seconds per move. A rematch needs both players to agree, and the first move switches sides.
Illegal moves are simply not allowed. When a capture is forced, the pieces that can capture pulse on the board, so you learn the rules as you play.

Frequently asked questions

Is capturing mandatory in Turkish checkers?

Yes. If you can capture, you must, and if there are several routes you have to take the one that captures the most pieces. Between equal routes, you choose.

Can pieces move backward in Turkish checkers?

Regular pieces can’t move or capture backward; they only go forward and sideways. Kings can move and capture in all four straight directions.

How is Turkish checkers different from regular checkers?

Pieces move straight instead of diagonally, all 64 squares are used, each side has 16 pieces, and kings fly any distance along a line. Capturing the most pieces possible is also compulsory.

How do you get a king in Turkish checkers?

Reach your opponent’s back row and end your move there. If you pass through it mid-chain, you carry on as a regular piece.

How far can a king move?

Any number of empty squares in a straight line. When capturing, it can jump a single distant piece and land on any empty square beyond it.

When is Turkish checkers a draw?

When each side has only one king left, or when 50 moves pass for each player (100 in total) without a capture.