What is Turkish draughts?
Turkish draughts, dama, uses every square of the 8×8 board. Each side has 16 men on its second and third rows, and nothing moves diagonally.
Men move one square straight forward or sideways, and capture forwards or sideways by jumping over an adjacent piece to the empty square behind. Kings fly along rows and columns. Captured pieces are removed one by one as they are jumped, so a capture may cross the same square again, but a king may not turn straight back between two jumps.
Capturing is compulsory, and you must take the sequence that captures the most pieces. A man that reaches the far row mid-capture goes on capturing as a man, along the row, and is crowned where it stops.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Checkers | Turkish draughts |
|---|---|---|
| Board and pieces | Standard Checkers12 men each on the dark squares of the three nearest rows. | Turkish draughtsEvery square is used: 16 men each fill the second and third rows. |
| Men | Standard CheckersMove and capture one square diagonally forward. | Turkish draughtsMove one square straight forward or sideways, and capture forwards or sideways. Never backwards. |
| Kings | Standard CheckersMove and capture one step diagonally in any direction. | Turkish draughtsFly along rows and columns, capturing from a distance, but may not reverse direction between two jumps. |
| Captured pieces | Standard CheckersTaken off when the capture is over; a piece can't be jumped twice. | Turkish draughtsTaken off as soon as they are jumped, so their squares can be crossed again in the same capture. |
| Choosing a capture | Standard CheckersCapturing is compulsory, but you may choose any capture. | Turkish draughtsYou must take the sequence that captures the most pieces. |
| Reaching the far row in a capture | Standard CheckersThe man is crowned and the move ends. | Turkish draughtsThe man goes on capturing as a man if it can and is crowned only where the capture ends. |
History
Turkish draughts is the traditional form of the game across Turkey, and versions of it are played in Greece, Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait and elsewhere in the Middle East. In Turkish the whole game, and the king, are called dama.
By giving up the diagonal and using all 64 squares, the game feels very different from the other draughts families: the board is crowded from the start, and long multi-jump captures through the same squares are common.