As I write the above title, I wonder if there is a boy or a girl in this great American land who does not own a checker-board, or does not know how to play this delightful game. The game was brought to us from England, we cannot say how many years ago, probably by the first settlers in these then lonely wilds.
This game of checkers is a scientific one and is governed entirely by calculation. So, in order to become a good player, one has to give considerable time and thought to the subject, which is perhaps as good mental discipline as many of our less interesting school studies.
The game is played upon a board or table, divided off into thirty-two white and thirty-two black squares, with twelve white and twelve black men or checkers.
The board can be made out of thin wood, or upon a strong piece of pasteboard, the white squares left the original color of the material used, and the black colored with ink or paint, whichever is most conveniently at hand.
For the checkers, small pieces of wood may be used, or black and white buttons be substituted in their place.
The table or board should be so placed that each player shall have a black square at his right hand, if playing on the white squares, or a white square, if playing on the black.
The men move obliquely forward until they arrive at the last, or the adversary’s head row, when they are made kings and can then move backward as well as forward.
To distinguish a king from a common man he is crowned, by placing another checker of the same color on top of him, as soon as he reaches the king’s row.
The adversary’s men are taken by leaping over them, and must be taken whenever offered or exposed. No move can be recalled after the man has been quitted; that is, after the finger has been removed from him.
The players have the first move in each game alternately.