Alquerque
Jump and capture on a 5×5 board of lines. The ancestor of checkers.
How to play Alquerque
Alquerque is a capturing game that is at least a thousand years old. It was played in the Arab world as Qirkat, came to Spain with the Moors, and is described in a Spanish book of games from 1283. When people later played it on a chessboard, it turned into checkers.
The board has 25 points joined by lines. Every point has straight lines across and down, and every other point also has diagonal lines. Each player has 12 pieces. At the start, only the centre point is empty. White sits at the bottom and moves first; Black sits at the top.
Goal
Capture all of your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no legal move.
Turn by turn
- Move. Slide one piece along a line to the next point, if it is empty. On this site we use the traditional restriction from R. C. Bell's rules: an ordinary move goes forward or sideways only, never backward. Diagonal moves are only possible where a diagonal line is drawn.
- Capture. If an enemy piece is next to yours along a line and the point just beyond it is empty, jump over it and remove it. A capture may go in any direction, backward included.
- Captures are compulsory. If you can capture, you must. Pieces that can capture glow, and you cannot make an ordinary move.
- Multi-jumps. After a jump, if the same piece can jump again, it must keep going. It may change direction between jumps. Tap each landing point in turn.
To play, tap a piece and then a marked point. The path of the last move is shown with a dotted line.
End of the game
You win when your opponent has no pieces left or cannot make a move on their turn. The game is a draw after 50 moves in a row without a capture, or if the same position comes up three times.
Playing the computer
Easy plays mostly at random. Medium looks a few moves ahead. Hard searches deep and sets up multi-jumps, so watch every gap you leave behind.
Strategy tips
- Count before you move. Captures are forced, so your opponent can make you jump into a trap. Before every move, check what your opponent's reply will force you to do.
- Keep your pieces together. A piece with a friend right behind it cannot be jumped from the front, because the landing point is not empty.
- Mind the diagonals. Points with diagonal lines touch eight neighbours and are the busiest places on the board. A gap next to one of them is often a way in for a multi-jump.
- Do not rush forward. Pieces can never step back. A piece that runs ahead alone is easy to pick off, and a piece on the far row can only move sideways or capture.
- Trade when you are ahead. With more pieces, simple one-for-one trades bring you closer to a won ending.
Alquerque FAQ
Is Alquerque the ancestor of checkers?
Most historians think so. Around the 12th century, players in southern France or Spain moved the game onto a chessboard, and that is how draughts and checkers began.
Can pieces move backward?
Not for ordinary moves. Following R. C. Bell's widely used rules, a piece moves only forward or sideways. Captures, however, may be made in any direction, including backward.
Do I have to capture?
Yes. If any of your pieces can capture, you must capture, and a piece must keep jumping as long as it can. Old rules punished a missed capture by removing the piece ("huffing"); here the game simply does not let you skip it.
How can the game end in a draw?
If 50 moves in a row pass without a capture, or if the same position is reached three times, the game is a draw. This stops endless side-to-side moves at the end.
