Fun Facts about Checkers

Many people do not realize how old the game of checkers really is. Scholars believe that the game may have developed from a similar type of game that was played as early as 1400 B.C. The ancient game was called Quirkat or Alquerque and was played in Rome, Egypt, India, and Greece. It used 2 sets of flat round pieces that were different colors. The board for the game was 5 by 5 and there were 10 pieces on each side and the object of the game was to capture the opposing pieces. Click on the banner in order to access the page that gives you privileged access to multiple casino games and promotions. You will have plenty of game options once you're on the site. In fact, the jeu de dames en ligne games are neatly divided into several categories. Check out the site today.

Further Development of the Game

The next stage of development in the game of checkers seems to come from southern France during the 13th century. The board was expanded to an 8 by 8 chess board and the name was changed to Fierges. The pieces of the game were called ferses, which is also the name of the queen in the game of chess. The game changed names again in the 15th century to the name Jeu De Dames and was often shortened to just Dames. This game became very popular throughout France by the 16th century. There were several versions of the game including a capture version. In this game the player needed to capture their opponent's piece as opposed to making another move. This version was called Jeu Force.

Draughts

The game Jeu Force was brought to England and the English renamed the game draughts. It was also brought over to the United States where they called the game checkers. The original game of Dames remained popular throughout France and was changed to use a 10 by 10 grid with 20 pieces during the 18th century. This game did not use the forced capture and is still popular today and is called continental or international draughts.

Checkers/Draughts Tournaments

The first draughts tournament happened in 1847. Since that time there have been many international tournaments for draughts/checkers as well as for international draughts. There are still several versions of the game played today. Many people have their own house rules that they play the game of checkers by. Chinese checkers is not a variant of the game. Ironically, the game of Chinese checkers does not have anything to do with the country of China. In fact, the game was created in Germany during the early part of the 1900s. The game was named Chinese checkers as a way to capitalize on the familiarity of the game of checkers throughout the world and to provide the game with an oriental flavor in order to make it more appealing. Both of these are simply marketing ploys.