How to Play Suicide checkers
Draughts turned inside out: lose every piece, and you have won.
Suicide checkers is English draughts with the result turned round: the first player to lose every piece, or to be left with no move, wins. Because capturing is compulsory, the game is about forcing your opponent to take your men and refusing every capture you can — everything you were taught to avoid, you now want. Play it offline against the computer at three levels, or online on a clock, on any of the eight boards.
Ways to play Suicide checkers
Against the computer
Pick your side and a level — Easy, Medium or Hard — and play Suicide checkers offline. The game is kept in your browser, exactly where you left it.
Online, on a clock
Create a board, choose your color, set a clock from one minute to sixty — or none at all — and share the code. Only the side to move has their clock running.
In 2D or 3D
Lay the board flat or stand it up. Every piece rises onto its square, and you can flip between them mid-game.
Seven boards, seven sets
Classic felt, Renaissance marble, Stone Age sandstone, Ice Age glacier, Jurassic amber, a Crustacean tide pool and a medieval chamber — changed while you play.
🎯 Objective
Be the first to have nothing left — no pieces on the board, or no legal move. In this game that is the win, not the loss.
🎲 Suicide checkers setup
- The board is eight by eight, and only the dark squares are used.
- Each side sets twelve men on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them; the two middle rows start empty.
- In the app, Suicide is one of the four rule sets on the draughts page — choose it before the game, with your side and the level.
- Black moves first.
▶ How to play Suicide checkers
- The moves are the English game’s. A man moves one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square.
- A man captures by jumping diagonally forward over an enemy piece to the empty square directly beyond it, and a chain of jumps is one move.
- Capturing is compulsory — and that is the whole game. If a jump is available you must take it; where several are available, you choose which.
- A man that lands on the far row is crowned a king, and the move ends there. A king moves and captures one square diagonally in any direction.
- Offer a man where your opponent must take it, and they must. Avoid squares where they could offer one to you.
- The side that runs out of pieces, or out of moves, has won.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Suicide checkers
Filmed as Give Away checkers, another name for this game.
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📖 Detailed guide
The same moves, the opposite aim
- Every rule of English draughts applies: forward-moving men, forward captures, kings that step one square, Black first.
- Only the result is inverted. No pieces, or no move, is a win for the side that has none.
- Compulsory capture is the engine of the game. You cannot refuse a jump, and neither can your opponent.
- A chain of jumps is one move, so one offered man can cost your opponent several of yours — which is exactly what you want.
Forcing and being forced
- A man placed diagonally in front of an enemy man with an empty square behind it must be taken on the next move.
- When two captures are available, your opponent picks — so look for offers where every choice helps you.
- Tempo matters: a spare move that forces nothing lets your opponent make an offer of their own.
- Kings are a burden. A king can be made to capture backwards as well as forwards, so an opponent with a king is an opponent you can keep feeding.
How a game ends
- A player with no pieces has won.
- A player whose every piece is blocked — no legal move — has also won.
- The same position for a third time, or forty moves by each side with no capture and no man moving, is a draw.
- On a timed board, a clock that runs out loses, as in every game here.
Offline, online and the clock
- Offline, choose Suicide on the draughts page’s rules picker, then your color and the level. The game is kept in your browser until you end it, and Undo takes back your move and the engine’s reply.
- Online you create a draughts board under Suicide rules, choose Black, White or a random draw, set a clock from one to sixty minutes — or none — and share the code or an invite link.
- Only the clock of the side to move runs. A clock that runs out loses the game.
- Suicide checkers is rated and recorded as its own game, apart from English draughts, on the same eight boards with the 2D/3D switch.
🏁 How Suicide checkers is won
The player who loses all their pieces wins, and so does a player left with no legal move. It is drawn when the same position occurs three times, or after forty moves by each side with no capture and no man moved. On a timed board, a player whose clock runs out loses.
❓ Suicide checkers — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Suicide checkers?
Suicide checkers is played by 2. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Suicide checkers?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Suicide checkers included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Suicide checkers have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
How do you win at suicide checkers?
By losing. The first player with no pieces left, or no legal move, wins. The moves are those of English draughts, and because capturing is compulsory, you win by forcing your opponent to take your men.
Are captures compulsory in suicide checkers?
Yes, as in English draughts — if a jump is available you must take it, and a chain of jumps is played as 1 move. When several captures are available you may choose between them. Without this rule the game could not work.
Is it good to get a king in suicide checkers?
Usually not. A king moves and captures backwards as well as forwards, so it can be forced into captures from more directions than a man. Most players avoid crowning until it cannot be helped.
Is suicide checkers included in my subscription?
Yes. Suicide checkers is part of Chess & Checkers by Vanikar™, which a Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription includes. Play it in your browser at play.vanikar.games with the same account.