Dani just invented a new game. To be more exact he merged two well-known games that often come together in the same pack.

This is ‘Chessdraughts’

Yeah, I know it’s a crap name but that’s the only thing Dani could come up with.

Draughts is the English name for the game. I think they call it ‘checkers’ in America. You could go the American English route and call it ‘Checkerchess’. Or ‘Chessckers’? Yeah those do sound a bit better… If you have a better name please let us know.

Yesterday, we arrived in our new temporary accommodation (more on this at a later date) to find the classic board games. Dani raced over and shouted “Chess”. But then when he opened the drawer of the box below the board he noticed the draughts pieces. Before I could even be bothered registering any interest, he had set up the board using most of the ‘checkers’ to fill  the middle of the board.

“Come on dad” he says confidently. “Let’s play.”
“Play what?”
“It’s a new game. Chess and draughts together.”
“Eh? You can’t play that. There is nowhere to move any pieces. Where are the draughts going to go?”

The Penny Dropped

I could only see a few moves for half of the pawns. I clearly wasn’t paying attention. Just as well the little lad was.

“Yes. You can move the knights. They can jump over remember?”
“Erm… Oh yeah.”
“Come on let’s play. What are the rules?”
“Erm… let’s see…”

Sure enough you could indeed start a game by bringing the knights into play. While I was still getting my head around it all Dani decided that the draughts pieces would move as normal and jump diagonally over other pieces to take (or capture) them. This would work for taking chess pieces as well as the ‘checkers’ discs. By the same method any draughts disc could be taken by the opponent’s draughts (As normal) and by a chess piece as if it was in the line of capture (just like any other chess piece capture).

The Rules

Basically, played as mentioned above. Each piece moves and takes other pieces according to its own game’s rules. The only other rule we came up with was that the King was immune to the threat of the draughts. This allowed the king a little more scope for moving out of trouble near the end of game.

If any draughts piece makes it to the other side of the board, we decided that it would become a “super-king”. Three pieces high instead of two and able to jump and take two diagonal squares instead of one. Not that any ‘checkers’ made it that far in our games. It is far less likely than a pawn turning into a Queen.

The overall aim is generally the same as chess. Capture the opponent’s king. Simple eh?

It may not catch on, but it is another game anyone can play at home. Nearly every chess set comes with both game’s pieces, and of course the same standard board. Who knows it could become popular during these virus lock-downs? Give it a go…