What is Giveaway draughts?
Giveaway draughts, also called losing draughts or anti-checkers, reverses the goal of the game. The player who has no legal move on their turn, usually because all their pieces have been captured, wins.
Everything else stays the same, and that is what makes it work: captures are still compulsory, so you try to force your opponent to take your pieces while avoiding their offers.
Giveaway is a switch you can add to any ruleset and board size. The Play button starts it with American rules on 8×8; change the ruleset in the table setup to play Russian, international or any other giveaway game.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Checkers | Giveaway draughts |
|---|---|---|
| How to win | Standard CheckersCapture or block all the opponent's pieces; a player without a move loses. | Giveaway draughtsLose all your pieces or be left without a move; a player without a move wins. |
| Captures | Standard CheckersCompulsory, by the ruleset's choice rule. | Giveaway draughtsThe same: still compulsory, by the same choice rule, so you can force your opponent to take. |
| Draws | Standard CheckersBy the ruleset: repetition, king-move limits and, in some rulesets, lone-king endgame limits. | Giveaway draughtsRepetition and king-move limits as in the ruleset (Frisian, which has none, draws after 25 moves each of kings only); the lone-king endgame limits don't apply. |
History
Playing to lose is an old idea in draughts. The French call the losing game qui perd gagne, who loses wins, and versions of it are played wherever draughts is.
In Russia the losing game is known as poddavki and has its own problems, tournaments and theory. Its appeal is the same everywhere: the familiar rules, and especially the compulsory capture, become a tool for getting rid of your own pieces.