The five checkers rule sets in Ink Clans
Ink Clans plays five versions of checkers: American, Brazilian, International, Russian and Pool. You pick one on the clan screen or under Rule set in Settings, where a change applies from the next match. This page compares them in detail; the how-to-play page covers the basic moves.
What all five share
Play happens on the dark squares only. Each side starts on the rows nearest to it, and the bottom side always moves first; against the computer, that is you. An uncrowned fighter, a man, steps one square diagonally forward and captures by jumping a diagonal neighbour into the empty square behind it. If the same fighter can jump again from where it lands, it continues in the same turn, which is called a chain.
A game ends when the side to move has no legal move, either because it has no fighters left or because every one of them is boxed in. None of the five has a draw rule or a move limit, so two kings can in principle chase each other forever; Forfeit match in the pause menu is the way out.
The five side by side
| Rule set | Board and fighters | Men capture backward | Kings move | Biggest capture compulsory | A man reaching the far row by a capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 8×8, 12 each | No | One square | No | Crowned on arrival; the move ends |
| Brazilian | 8×8, 12 each | Yes | Any distance (flying) | Yes, with strict captures | Keeps jumping as a man if it can; crowned only if the move ends there |
| International | 10×10, 20 each | Yes | Any distance (flying) | Yes, with strict captures | Keeps jumping as a man if it can; crowned only if the move ends there |
| Russian | 8×8, 12 each | Yes | Any distance (flying) | No | Crowned on arrival; keeps jumping as a king |
| Pool | 8×8, 12 each | Yes | Any distance (flying) | No | Keeps jumping as a man if it can; crowned only if the move ends there |
Strict or free captures
Every rule set can be played with strict or free captures, set under Capture rule. Strict is the default and the usual competition rule: if any jump exists you must take one, and once a chain starts you must finish it. Free makes every jump optional, and after any jump you can stop with the End turn button. The red rings of Capture hints mark the fighters you are allowed to capture with. With strict captures those are the only fighters you may move, and in Brazilian and International they are only the fighters with the longest capture.
The maximum-capture rule of Brazilian and International only applies with strict captures. With free captures, every capture and every step stays legal, whatever its length.
American: short kings, and crowning ends the move
American is the 8×8 game most English speakers simply call checkers. Men only ever move and capture forward. Kings move and capture one square at a time, forward or backward. There is no maximum-capture rule, so when several captures are available you may choose any of them, although with strict captures you must choose one.
Crowning is final. Picture your man two rows from the far edge, an enemy man diagonally in front of it and an empty square on the far row behind that enemy. You jump, land on the far row, are crowned, and your turn is over, even if the new king could see another enemy within reach. The jump that crowns is always the last jump of the move.
Russian: the new king keeps going
Russian rules give men backward captures and kings the flying move, with no maximum-capture rule. The difference shows on the far row in the middle of a chain. Take the same jump as above, but now there is another enemy further along a diagonal from your landing square, with two empty squares in between. A man could never reach it. In Russian rules your man is crowned the moment it lands and the chain continues with king powers, so it flies down the diagonal and takes that enemy too.
Brazilian, International and Pool: crowned only if the move ends there
These three treat the far row like any other square while a chain is still going. When a man lands there by capturing, the game asks whether it can capture again as a man. If it can, for example because an enemy sits diagonally beside it with an empty square behind, it carries on jumping, leaves the far row and is not crowned. Only if the move finishes on the far row does the man become a king. With free captures you may stop there with End turn, and the man is crowned.
Run the Russian example again under these rules and the result changes. From the far row the man cannot reach the distant enemy, so the move ends, the man is crowned, and the enemy survives for now.
In Ink Clans, Brazilian is International played on the 8×8 board. International itself uses a 10×10 board with four rows of fighters, twenty a side. Pool plays like Brazilian without the maximum-capture rule.
The maximum-capture rule
In Brazilian and International with strict captures, when more than one capture is available you must play one that takes the most pieces. Suppose two of your men can jump. The first can take one enemy and stop. The second can take one enemy and then a second one from where it lands. Only the second man is allowed to move. The rule applies again after every jump of a chain, so you follow the branch that takes the most.
Flying kings
In the four rule sets other than American, a king moves any distance along an open diagonal. To capture, it looks along a diagonal for the first piece in its way. If that piece is an enemy with at least one empty square behind it, the king can jump it and land on any of the empty squares beyond, up to the next piece. A king in a corner that captures an enemy three squares along the long diagonal can choose between four landing squares, and the choice usually decides whether the chain continues.
Where Ink Clans keeps it simple
These are Ink Clans' versions of the five games, not tournament rulebooks. A captured fighter leaves the board the moment it is jumped, so a long chain can pass over a square that an earlier jump in the same chain emptied. In over-the-board International draughts, captured pieces stay on the board until the whole move is complete. There are also no rules for draws, repeated positions or move counts.
Which one to play
American is the gentlest start: short kings and forward-only men keep every threat one square away. Pool adds backward captures and flying kings without the counting the maximum-capture rule demands. Russian adds mid-chain crowning, which makes the far row a target even during a capture. Brazilian adds the compulsory longest capture, which turns every exchange into arithmetic. International is the long game: more fighters, longer diagonals and more captures, which also means more fights to watch.
Whichever you choose, the clans and the fights work the same. For practical advice per rule set, read the strategy guide.