Play Anti-Checkers Online

About Anti-Checkers

Anti-Checkers, also called Giveaway or Losing Draughts, keeps the movement of American Checkers but turns the entire objective upside down. Played on an eight by eight board with twelve men a side, men still slide and capture forward, kings are still non-flying, and, crucially, capturing is still mandatory. The twist is that you win when you have no pieces left or no legal move, so getting rid of your army is the goal rather than the disaster. Because captures are compulsory, the game becomes a battle to force your opponent to take your pieces. You maneuver to offer sacrifices they cannot refuse, steering the position so their mandatory jumps clear your board while leaving them stuck with material. This inversion produces delightfully counterintuitive play where a big lead in pieces is a burden and a clever giveaway is a triumph, making it a favorite twist for players who know the standard game.

Anti-Checkers at a glance

How to play Anti-Checkers

Set up the board

Place your twelve men on the dark squares of the three rows nearest you, exactly as in American Checkers. The starting position is identical, but your entire aim will be reversed.

Moving your men

Men move one square diagonally forward to an empty dark square, just as in the standard game. Movement rules are unchanged, so only the objective differs from ordinary checkers.

Capturing pieces

Jumping is still mandatory: if you can capture, you must. Here that rule is your tool, because forcing your opponent into compulsory jumps is how you unload your own pieces onto them.

Crowning kings

A man reaching the far row is still crowned into a non-flying king and the turn ends. In this variant a king can be a liability, since extra material is the last thing you want to keep.

Winning the game

You win the moment you have no pieces left or no legal move available. So you aim to give away your whole army or get yourself completely blocked, the opposite of standard checkers.

The story of Anti-Checkers

Giveaway or losing variants have shadowed standard draughts for as long as the game has been played, arising wherever players wondered what would happen if the goal were reversed. Anti-Checkers formalizes that idea on the familiar American eight by eight board with its forced-capture rule intact.

The compulsory-capture rule is what makes the inversion work, because it lets a player force an opponent to take pieces against their will. This transforms a straightforward race into a subtle contest of who can offload their army first, and it has long been enjoyed as a clever alternative to the standard game.

Today Anti-Checkers is popular as a giveaway option on many online checkers sites and among players looking to test their skills in an unfamiliar direction. Its inverted logic keeps it fresh even for those who have mastered ordinary checkers, and it endures as one of the most engaging twists in the family.

Anti strategy: how to win more games

1. Use the mandatory-capture rule as a weapon, steering the board so every enemy move takes another of your men.
2. Avoid gaining material, because extra pieces are a burden you must eventually shed.
3. Aim to be blocked or emptied first, treating immobility as a win rather than a loss.
4. Set up chains where a single forced jump unloads several of your pieces at once.
5. Keep an eye on promotion, since a king you cannot get rid of can cost you the game.
6. Count moves to ensure your giveaway plan finishes before your opponent can offload theirs.

Advanced Anti tactics

• Engineer multi-jump gifts where the enemy's compulsory sequence strips your board in one turn.
• Calculate parity so your last piece disappears on your terms, not your opponent's.
• Deliberately avoid making captures that would leave you with too many pieces.
• Trap yourself into a fully blocked position when that gives you the win before the opponent empties out.
• Steer enemy men toward promotion when a king burdens them more than it helps.
• Use tempo to force your opponent to accept sacrifices at the worst possible moment for them.
• Recognize positions where refusing to build material is worth more than any immediate capture.

Common mistakes to avoid in Anti

• Playing to keep your pieces - which is backwards here since you win by losing them all, so instead seek moves that shed your men and hasten your own elimination.
• Failing to force the opponent to capture - which lets them stall and keep pieces, so instead offer men on squares where their mandatory jump strips their own material.
• Holding a piece that should be sacrificed - which delays the giveaway you actually want, so instead feed it into a forced capture chain that empties your side faster.
• Avoiding being blocked - which is fine since a fully blocked player also wins, so instead steer toward positions where you have no legal move rather than dodging the lock.

Anti variations and related rule sets

Anti-Checkers FAQ

Keep learning

• Anti-checkers (giveaway) explained
• Standard checkers strategy
• Full rules for every checkers variant
• The complete checkers and draughts glossary

Last updated 2026-07-04.

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