Chess and Draughts
English draughts is not the same game as the Italian or the international version, and almost no browser game tells you which one you are playing.
36 games · hand-picked, then filled from the catalogue
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Search for draughts and open the first result, and you are most likely about to play a game that is not the one you have in mind.
How this list is put together
Almost every browser game implements English draughts, and it differs from the Italian and international rules on two points that change every match. In the Italian game a man cannot capture a king: the king is untouchable to anyone unpromoted. And when several captures exist you are obliged to take the one that captures most — the majority capture is not a courtesy, it is a rule. Remove those two things, as the English version does, and the game changes character: more open, more tactical and much less tense.
None of these games will tell you that. It is worth knowing before you conclude that the computer is cheating.
Chess against a machine, and the problem of strength
Almost every browser chess game offers three levels. Almost none says what they mean, which is a shame, because the difference between a weak engine and a serious one is the difference between learning something and losing an hour.
The most useful signal is not the number of levels: it is whether the game shows you the position evaluation while you play. One title on this list does, and it changes the experience completely — you watch the bar move at the exact moment you made the mistake, instead of discovering it ten moves later when there is nothing left to do.
The variants, usually worth more than they look
Among the titles below there is one where a die decides which piece you may move. Put like that it sounds like a trivialisation, and instead it is the best door into the game for anybody who finds chess intimidating: you no longer evaluate thirty-two pieces every turn, you evaluate one. The mental load collapses and the game stays interesting.
One limit, stated
This is not a list curated piece by piece all the way down. The first four are hand-picked and played; the rest arrives from the catalogue filtered for board games, and something with little to do with chess may well end up in it. We would rather say so than pretend all thirty-six were opened one at a time.
Here, +4 is for beginnersStack the draws, skip everyone, dump your hand.Play free ›Our gameQuestions people ask
Why do the draughts here behave differently from the game I know?
Because almost all of them implement English draughts, and the rules differ from the Italian and international versions on points that change every game. In the Italian rules a man cannot capture a king, and when several captures are available you are obliged to take the one that captures most. English draughts has neither. Same board, different game.
Can two people play on the same computer?
Yes, and several titles here provide for it explicitly: one player moves with the mouse, then hands over. No second device and no connection required.
How strong is the computer?
Extremely variable, and the games rarely say. Some have three levels where the highest is barely adequate; one on this list shows the position evaluation in real time as you play, which is the best way to see where you went wrong.
What is a dice variant for?
To remove the part of chess that frightens beginners. The die decides which piece you may move, so you are not evaluating the whole board every turn — you are evaluating one possibility. It is a different game, but it is an excellent way to sit down at the table.