Canadian Checkers is also played in India and Sri Lanka, check Thushara Wickramasinghe website.
FRISIAN CHECKERS
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This game is played mainly in Holland. Some words: Before 1700 people in Friesland played at draughts in a way we now call the Frisian draughts game. In those days matches were organized by innkeepers, especially to tempt customers to come to their inn. from http://www.friesdammen.nl/com/engels/index.html
TURKISH CHECKERS
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Check a related website.
A similar game is Kens (I
don't know the author) which uses the same setup. Soldiers move to an adjacent
orthogonal empty cell (but not backwards) and may also jump (not backwards) over
adjacent friendly stones landing on the immediate empty cell. If the soldier
jumps over an enemy it captures it (it's valid to jump backwards when
capturing). Capturing jumps are multiple and it's mandatory to maximize the
number of captures after the player selects which piece he is going to move (in
case of existing several stones able to capture). When a soldier reaches the
last row it's transformed into a King. Kings may slide any number of empty cells
in a straight (orthogonal) line or jump over adjacent friendly stones and then
slide any number of empty cells. Kings also capture like soldiers. After a
slide, they can jump over an enemy piece and then slide again. They obey the
same capture rules (mandatory and max-capture after choosing the piece). Wins
the player that stalemates the opponent (which includes capturing all enemy
pieces).
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Check a related website and also a ZRF to play this game (both by Mats Winther).
The International Checkers rules apply except: (a) Red must capture all black pieces, Black must stalemate Red (b) Red starts the game (c) Red must execute two movements (with one or two pieces).
"I was first taught this variant of Checkers in the 1960s by my great-grandmother. She learned it from her father who was an American Civil War veteran. So, it must be over 100 years old. I was told that it was named after the city in New Mexico, and was played by Texas oil-field workers. I always thought that this was a common variant, since it had only the addition of the slide move." - L. Lynn Smith
Basically, Albuquerque is the standard Checkers game (using the same setup), except that the pieces can slide. They slide diagonal forward until reaching the farthest row, then they are crowned and can slide in all diagonal directions. They capture by jumping adjacent opponents. Captures are mandatory. Both soldiers and Kings use short jumps. Soldiers can only jump forward.
GIVE AND TAKE
This is a checker variant from Christopher Elis, using the setup of Turkish Dama.
The goal is capture or block all enemy pieces. Soldiers move forward and sideways (no diagonals) to an adjacent empty cell, and capture by jumping, also forward or sideways (so, no backward move or capture). Capture is mandatory but does not need to be maximized. Soldiers promote at last row, but if a soldier visit the promotion row while in a jump sequence, it does not get promoted automatically (it is promoted if the last jump lands on that row). Promoted soldiers move like Chess Rooks, and they capture by long jumps (i.e., the jumped piece must not be adjacent, and the cell where the piece lands, must not be the immediate cell - but the piece cannot jump more than one piece at each turn). More information at ETEROSCACCO.
This is a modern Italian checker variant (check this website). The game is played on the following 5x5 board:
Soldiers move one cell forward (orthogonal or diagonal) and capture by jump on any direction. Jumps are multiple and mandatory. Soldiers are promoted on last row, and Kings may slide any number of empty cells (however they can only do short jumps). A bigger variant Dâmma is played on a 9x9 board with the same rules (with 40 soldiers each).
According to Ralf Gering, the second player has a strong advantage.
This is a checker variant by Peter Aronson.
The rules of Draughts (American Checkers) apply except: the game is played on an enlarged board where the extra external cells can only be occupied via a capturing move. The King can move and capture diagonally forward and backwards, and capture (but not move without capturing) up, down, left and right by a jump of four cells. There is a ZRF file to play it with Zillions.
Some words from Peter: The ring board was inspired by the rule found in some of V.R. Parton's Checkers variants, such as Kinger and Dragon, that some pieces may only land on edge squares if that is the only way to make a capture. The King's orthogonal capture was inspired by Frisian or Babylonian Draughts, which allows such captures.
ACTIVATOR CHECKERS
This checker variant by Matthew Burke uses two sets of checkers playing two intermixed games causing side effects to each other. Matthew called them Light and Dark (if they are placed under the squares of a checkered board).
The rules of International Checkers apply except: a piece can only move or capture if it is orthogonally adjacent to another friendly piece, the subsequent cells of multiple captures are not affected by this rule. A player wins by leaving no valid moves to his opponent. Matthew also includes that on first turn, the first player just moves on piece. After that, each player moves two pieces, one from Dark and one from Light.
This checker variant by Remco Industries (in 1962) is played in the following diagram.
Checkers can jump orthogonally over enemies only. Jumping over a piece captures it. Multiple Captures are optional and it is possible to capture with several different pieces in the same turn. When no move is possible, the player must pass. When two consecutive passes occurs, the game ends. Wins the player with more stones.
Other Variants
Many other modern variants exist. Perhaps the most famous is Losing Draughts, where the player that is unable to move wins the game. Diagonal Draughts are played on the following setup:
Hide, is a 8x8 checkers variant, where each player starts with 8 stones each, placed on the first 2 rows. Stones cannot capture nor jump, but an isolated stone is removed from game. Wins the player that makes the last move. Ralf Gering suggests a 8x12 board (8 rows, 12 columns). It seems that there is a simple solution to this game. Gering's words: Black, the second player, must always imitate the last move of White in a symmetrical fashion. This ensures that Black is moving last and wins.
In Board Draughts, each player also starts with 8 stones of the first two rows. Stones cannot capture and just move and jump forward. The goal is to move all stones to the last row (where they are removed from board). Wins the player with no stones left. I don't have information about if jumping is mandatory, but I would guess that it is. Ralf Gering noticed that an extra rule is needed for blocked positions (a player would be unable to jump), which would be a win for the blocked player. This rule adds extra tactical depth to the game, as shown in this position sent by Ralf:
Board Draughts is now considered a 2002-2020 game from Joăo Neto with the contribution of Ralf Gering. Its story is here.
Contract Checkers, is an variant invented in Chicago, 1934, played like 8x8 Draughts, but each player has 2 more stones off board, that can be dropped on an empty cell on the first row, when the respective cell on the last row is also empty.
Chip, by K. Franklin in 2002, uses the same setup and rules of English Draughts except: (a) the captured pieces are not removed, instead they change color (became friendly pieces); (b) A player wins by getting 6 Kings or reducing the adversary to less than 6 soldiers. (I'm not sure but I suppose a stalemate position can be achieved - the rules do not state what happens, but possibly the stalemated player loses).
Surround Checkers (author unknown), uses the same setup and rules of English Draughts except: (a) there is no promotion or standard captures, (b) every diagonally connected group of friendly stones is captured, if there is no stone adjacent to a diagonal empty cell, (c) a stalemated player loses the game. This game is a mix of Checkers and Go. Eventually, it may be more interested on larger boards.
Other games can be found on the Zillions website. Check this page. Check also Dame, Frisian Draughts, Extreme Checkers, Ellen's Checkers, Fractagonals and Polarity.
Here are the rules of Military Checkers:
