Draughts variants compared: international, Brazilian and Turkish
A draughts variant can change far more than the board size. Direction, capture selection and promotion timing all affect whether a move is legal. This comparison describes the three browser editions available here, including where their digital rules stop short of tournament procedures.
Brazilian and international: familiar geometry at two sizes
Brazilian draughts uses 8×8 with twelve men per side; international draughts expands to 10×10 with twenty. In both editions, ordinary steps move diagonally forward, men can capture diagonally backward, and kings travel along diagonals.
A capture is compulsory, and a choice of chains must take the largest number of pieces. Kings and men count equally for that choice. Knowing these rules matters more than treating every diagonal draughts game as the checkers version you first learned.
Turkish draughts changes the geometry
Turkish draughts uses sixteen men per side on 8×8. Steps and captures follow rows and columns, never diagonals. Ordinary men do not move backward, while kings travel along those straight lines.
Maximum capture still applies. Captured pieces disappear immediately, unlike the Brazilian and international editions where they block the chain until the turn ends. A Turkish king cannot reverse its direction by 180 degrees between consecutive captures.
Promotion depends on how the turn ends
In the Brazilian and international builds, a man promotes only if its final landing is on the last row. Crossing that row and leaving during a chain does not grant flying-king powers mid-turn. In the Turkish build, promotion gives new powers on the next turn.
Inspect the whole chain before selecting its first jump. The edition's highlighted landing squares help distinguish a legal route from a familiar route belonging to another variant.
Choose a ruleset, then check the edition
Brazilian is a way to explore backward captures and flying kings on the compact board. International offers the larger 10×10 position. Turkish replaces diagonal patterns with straight-line movement and immediate removal of captured pieces.
These versions also implement different draw limits. Their game pages document those details; full tournament procedures are not included. Choose a game for the rule decisions you want to investigate, then use its page for controls and current build information.
Keep playing
Every game page lists its current version and controls and offers a fullscreen play view.
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