What is Spanish draughts?
Spanish draughts is played on the 8×8 board with 12 men a side. Men move and capture one square diagonally forward, exactly as in checkers.
The differences are in the kings and the captures. Kings fly: they move any distance along a diagonal and capture from a distance, landing on any free square beyond the captured piece. Capturing is compulsory, and you must take the sequence that captures the most pieces; if two sequences take the same number, you must take the one that captures more kings.
The same rules are played in Portugal as Portuguese draughts.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Checkers | Spanish draughts |
|---|---|---|
| Kings | Standard CheckersMove and capture one step diagonally in any direction. | Spanish draughtsFly: move any distance along a diagonal and capture a piece from a distance, landing on any free square beyond it. |
| Choosing a capture | Standard CheckersCapturing is compulsory, but you may choose any capture. | Spanish draughtsYou must take the most pieces; among equal captures, the one that takes the most kings. |
History
Spain has one of the oldest written traditions in draughts. The earliest known book on the game, by Antonio de Torquemada, was printed in Valencia in 1547, and Spanish authors kept writing on it in the following centuries.
The game is still played in Spain and Portugal and in parts of Latin America and North Africa. Its rules sit between checkers, with which it shares the men that capture only forwards, and the European games with flying kings.