Each player begins the game with 12 pieces, or checkers, placed in the three rows closest to him or her. The object of the game is to capture all of your opponent’s checkers or position your pieces so that your opponent has no available moves. Basic movement is to move a checker one space diagonally forward. Watch, as Cottage Lane students explain, “How to Play Checkers” or visit this link.

What would happen if your checker board was filled with math facts? How would the game work? I learned how to play this game from the website, LearninWithMathGames.com. Below are the rules for playing”Checkers with a Twist”!

• The first player starts by moving one of his or her pieces forward diagonally one space to an empty gray square. The player must answer the math fact of the empty square correctly in order to to the new square. Otherwise they stay at their current square.
• The second player proceeds in the same way and play alternates throughout the game.
• A player captures another player’s piece by jumping over the opponent’s piece to an empty square just beyond the piece they’re trying to capture. The player must answer the math fact correctly in order to jump over their opponent’s piece to the empty square.

For all moves, the opponent should check answers with calculator to see whether it’s right or wrong.

• Kings. If a player moves their piece to the last row (furthest from their side of the board) that piece is crowned and becomes a King.  One of the captured pieces is placed on top of that piece to designate it as a King. The advantage of having a Kings is they can move backwards and forward diagonally.  Unlike Regular pieces, Kings can “jump” various empty boxes at a time to capture a regular piece. These “King Jumps” may only occur in diagonally aligned boxes
• How the game ends. The player that loses all of their pieces loses the game.  If no players are able to move, the player with the most amount of pieces wins. If the players have the same amount of pieces, the player with the most kings wins. If the players have an equal number of pieces and the same number of kings the game is a draw.

Have FUN!