LEROYPENNYSAVER&NEWS -AUGUST7, 2016
Draughts
byLynneBelluscio
This week, a group of kids are
spendingWednesdayafternoonon
the back porch of LeRoy House.
They will be making a couple of
wooden toys including a checker
board. Inadayofelectronicgames
and PokemonGo, the game of
checkersmight seem pretty tame,
but if the electricity goes off, and
there is noway to charge the cell
phone, it might be a good idea to
have a checkerboard.
A checkerboard has a grid of
eight squares in each direction
with alternating colors. Chess can
alsobe playedon a checkerboard.
In England, checkers is called
draughts. Although most of us
know how to play checkers, there
aremany other games that can be
playedon a checkerboard in addi-
tion to chess.
Checkers
isplayedon theblack
squares and each player gets 12
pieces.
1.Moveonlyonespaceata time,
and alwaysmove diagonally.
2.Move only forward.
3.Youcan jumponly ifanoppo-
nent’spiece isdiagonallyadjacent
and theremustbeanemptysquare
to land into.
4.Whenyou jumpanopponent’s
piece, youcapture it and remove it
from the board.
5.Youmust jump andyoumust
jump all the pieces available on
that turn.
6. The object is to move your
pieces to theback line of your op-
Checkerboardmade of inlaidwood.
Checkerboardpainted on oldbreadboard.
CheckerboardmadebyWilfredVasile.
ponent’s side and then it becomes
a“King,”byputtingasecondpiece
on topor by turning it over.
7. Kings can move in any di-
rection diagonally, backward or
forward.
Theobject is to jumpall of your
opponent’s pieces and capture
themor corner theirpieces so they
can’tmake anymoves.
French Checkers
is played on
the black squares and each player
gets 12 pieces and are set on the
checkerboard the same as tradi-
tional checkers.
1.Moveonlyonespaceata time,
and alwaysmove diagonally.
2.Move only forward.
3. To jump anopponent’s piece,
youcanonlymovebackward–not
forward.
4. Kings may move in any di-
rection.
The object is to have the most
number of kings.
Diagonal Checkers
is played
on the board turned ¼ turn and
each player receives 12 pieces. It
isplayedon theblacksquares,with
2 in the back row, 4 in themiddle
row and six in the front row.
1.Moveonlyonespaceata time,
andonlydiagonally forward.
2. When your piece reaches
either of the two places at the
opposite side, theybecame kings.
3. Kings move or jump in any
direction.
The object is to capture all of
your opponent’s pieces.
Giveaway Checkers
is played
like regular checkers, except the
object is to lose all of your pieces,
soplan tomoveyourpiecesdirect-
ly in the way of your opponent’s
pieces, so your pieces have to be
jumped - - themorepieces jumped
byyour opponent, the better.
Checkers has been played for
centuries. A variety of checkers
was played by the ancient Egyp-
tians,over1600yearsbeforeChrist
(BC).
Probably the most unusual
checkers board that we have in
our collection is a boardmade by
WilfredVasilewhile hewas a stu-
dent at the School for theBlind in
Batavia. Imagineplayingcheckers
when you cannot see the board or
thepieceson theboard!!Theboard
squares are different heights, so
if you run your fingers over the
board you can feel the black and
white squares.
The round pieces rest in the
recessed squares, but obviously,
youhave tocreatean image inyour
mindofwhereall thepiecesareso
youknowwhere tomoveandhow
to jump your opponent’s pieces.
Whenyou reach the opposite side
to be kinged, you turn over your
piece and expose a recessed hole
on thepiece. Thekings canbe felt
with thefingers.Wewill bringout
Wilfred’s checkerboard for every-
one to try and see if anyone can
play a game blindfolded.
