<p>No, on an 8x8 board and the regular American checkers rules, you can capture at most 9 out of the 12 pieces:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/XIOMz.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>The white king can capture here the sequence (in chess notation) </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>h8 x f6 x h4 x f2 x d4 x b6 x d8 x f6 x d4 x b2</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Note that the white king passes the squares f6 and d4 multiple times, which is allowed (what is not allowed, is jumping the same piece more than once). </p>

<p>Because a jumped piece is at least 2 rows and columns away from another jumped piece, it is impossible to add more pieces to this configuration. And because of the board symmetry, it is easy to see that shifting the pieces will also not work.</p>

<p>On a 10x10 board using International draughts rules (where kings can skip multiple empty squares before and after a jump), the maximum you can capture is 19 out of the 20 pieces in the initial position:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/hxdDm.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>Figuring out the correct capture sequence is left as an exercise :-)</p>

<p><strong>Proof game</strong> for reaching the second position
1. 31-27 17-21 2. 33-28 21-26 3. 39-33 11-17 4. 44-39 17-21 5. 28-22 6-11 6. 50-44 11-17 7. 22x11 20-24 8. 11-6 12-17 9. 35-30 24x35 10. 34-30 35x24 11. 40-34 7-11 12. 34-30 24x35 13. 39-34 1-7 14. 6-1 8-12 15. 43-39 2-8 16. 34-30 35x24 17. 48-43 14-20 18. 32-28 21x23 19. 39-34 10-14 20. 37-31 26x30 21. 45-40 5-10 22. 44-39 20-25 23. 39-34 30x28 24. 41-37 15-20 25. 37-32 28x37 26. 38-32 37x28 27. 36-31 16-21 28. 31-27 21x32 29. 46-41 18-22 30. 47-42 22-27 31. 41-37 32x41 32. 49-43 24-29 33. 43-39 29-33 34. 39-34 20-24 35. 34-30 24x44 36. 42-38 33x42 37. 1-6 25-30 38. 6-1 30-34 39. 1-6 34-39 40. 6-1 39-43 41. 1-6 27-31 42. 6-1 28-32 43. 1-6 12-18 44. 6-1 7-12 45. 1-6 23-29 46. 6-1 29-33 47. 1-6 19-24 48. 6-1 24-29 49. 1-6 29-34 50. 6-1 14-19 51. 1-6 19-24 52. 6-1 24-30 53. 1-6 10-14 54. 6-1 14-20 55. 1-6 4-10 56. 6-1 13-19 57. 1-6 9-13 58. 6-1 3-9 59. 1-6 19-23 60. 6-1 13-19 61. 1-6 18-22 62. 6-1 17-21 *</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T16:32:22.580Z
Sorry I'm not familiar with "where kings can skip multiple empty squares before and after a jump" rules, could you explain?
warspyking
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T16:41:42.410Z
@warspyking see e.g. [this animated gif](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draughts) on Wikipedia
TemplateRex
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T16:54:32.763Z
So kind of like a bishop in chess?
warspyking
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T16:55:32.440Z
@warspyking yes, jumping bishop
TemplateRex
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T17:01:11.633Z
But the first one is obvious.
warspyking
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T18:21:14.553Z
There is of course a huge caveat here. The contrived board positions shown could not have been reached in regulation play.
MaxW
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T20:38:49.387Z
@MaxW see the edit with a proof game :)
TemplateRex
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T20:46:09.167Z
@MaxW you can also show that all pieces from the initial position can promote to kings. See one of my other Q&As on this site.
TemplateRex
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-14T14:29:12.717Z
2017-12-22T20:38:28.847Z
2017-12-22T20:38:28.847Z
TemplateRex
<p>What moves would have to be played leading up to this, obviously both players would have to chip in, but how would this work? Is it even possible to get this board playing with actual rules?</p>

<checkers>
Checkers (Draughts) Capture all pieces in 1 move
warspyking
# Checkers (Draughts) Capture all pieces in 1 move

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-09-14)

What moves would have to be played leading up to this, obviously both players would have to chip in, but how would this work? Is it even possible to get this board playing with actual rules?

**Tags:** checkers


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-09-14. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

No, on an 8x8 board and the regular American checkers rules, you can capture at most 9 out of the 12 pieces:

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/XIOMz.png)

The white king can capture here the sequence (in chess notation)

> h8 x f6 x h4 x f2 x d4 x b6 x d8 x f6 x d4 x b2

Note that the white king passes the squares f6 and d4 multiple times, which is allowed (what is not allowed, is jumping the same piece more than once).

Because a jumped piece is at least 2 rows and columns away from another jumped piece, it is impossible to add more pieces to this configuration. And because of the board symmetry, it is easy to see that shifting the pieces will also not work.

On a 10x10 board using International draughts rules (where kings can skip multiple empty squares before and after a jump), the maximum you can capture is 19 out of the 20 pieces in the initial position:

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/hxdDm.png)

Figuring out the correct capture sequence is left as an exercise :-)

**Proof game** for reaching the second position
1. 31-27 17-21 2. 33-28 21-26 3. 39-33 11-17 4. 44-39 17-21 5. 28-22 6-11 6. 50-44 11-17 7. 22x11 20-24 8. 11-6 12-17 9. 35-30 24x35 10. 34-30 35x24 11. 40-34 7-11 12. 34-30 24x35 13. 39-34 1-7 14. 6-1 8-12 15. 43-39 2-8 16. 34-30 35x24 17. 48-43 14-20 18. 32-28 21x23 19. 39-34 10-14 20. 37-31 26x30 21. 45-40 5-10 22. 44-39 20-25 23. 39-34 30x28 24. 41-37 15-20 25. 37-32 28x37 26. 38-32 37x28 27. 36-31 16-21 28. 31-27 21x32 29. 46-41 18-22 30. 47-42 22-27 31. 41-37 32x41 32. 49-43 24-29 33. 43-39 29-33 34. 39-34 20-24 35. 34-30 24x44 36. 42-38 33x42 37. 1-6 25-30 38. 6-1 30-34 39. 1-6 34-39 40. 6-1 39-43 41. 1-6 27-31 42. 6-1 28-32 43. 1-6 12-18 44. 6-1 7-12 45. 1-6 23-29 46. 6-1 29-33 47. 1-6 19-24 48. 6-1 24-29 49. 1-6 29-34 50. 6-1 14-19 51. 1-6 19-24 52. 6-1 24-30 53. 1-6 10-14 54. 6-1 14-20 55. 1-6 4-10 56. 6-1 13-19 57. 1-6 9-13 58. 6-1 3-9 59. 1-6 19-23 60. 6-1 13-19 61. 1-6 18-22 62. 6-1 17-21 \*

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Sorry I'm not familiar with "where kings can skip multiple empty squares before and after a jump" rules, could you explain?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 see e.g. [this animated gif](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draughts) on Wikipedia  
> **username_0**: So kind of like a bishop in chess?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 yes, jumping bishop  
> **username_0**: But the first one is obvious.  
> **username_2**: There is of course a huge caveat here. The contrived board positions shown could not have been reached in regulation play.  
> **username_1**: @username_2 see the edit with a proof game :)  
> **username_1**: @username_2 you can also show that all pieces from the initial position can promote to kings. See one of my other Q&As on this site.  

---

