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Statistics of won games
white	4792 (56.75 %)
black	3469 (41.08 %)
Draws	182 (2.15 %)

Alquerque

Alquerque had been played in old Egypt more than 3000 years ago and it was brought to Europe in the 8. century by Moor warriors. This game was an inspiration for contemporary, and very popular around the world, Checkers.

Start position and game object

Both players start with 12 pieces, located on specific fields (see picture):



The object of this game is to capture all opponent's pieces or reach a position where your opponent cannot make a legal move.

Movement of pieces

Pawns can move only one space up, diagonally forward or horizontally, they cannot move backward. All moves can be done on lines connecting the circles only. The following picture shows an example of white pawn move.



If a pawn reaches the opposite side of the board (the last row), it cannot make any more moves and must stay there to the end of a game (unless it can jump, see next sections).

How to capture opponent's pieces

If a piece stands next to an opponent's piece (in moving direction) and the next space beyond this piece is empty, then the player must capture the opponent's piece by jumping over it and removes it from the board. The captured piece will appear under (or over, depending on the board orientation) the board in Captured pieces field to inform the players about the game status.

 

If, after jumping, it is possible to jump over another opponent's piece, the player must capture this piece too. It means that the player can capture several pieces in one move. In this case (multiple jumps), the second and next jumps can be done in any direction, even backward, even if the first or other not last jump of the multiple jump ends on the last row.

Other important rules

• The player can jump over opponent's pieces only, not over his/her own ones.
• Jumping is mandatory. BrainKing.com will not allow you to make a "normal" move if you can capture one or more opponent's pieces in the current position.
• If the player has more possibilities to capture opponent's pieces, he/she can select any of them.
• A piece standing on player's last row (which cannot make any other moves) can jump over an opponent's piece horizontally.
• A piece cannot return to the circle it was standing in the previous move.

Play this game

See also: Checkers, Anti Checkers, Czech Checkers, Corner Checkers, One Way Checkers, Parachute Checkers, Gothic Checkers, Turkish Checkers, Alquerque, Hawaiian Checkers, International Checkers, Russian Checkers, Canadian Checkers, Thai Checkers, Brazilian Checkers, Portuguese Checkers, Italian Checkers, Dameo