The classic British board game of Draughts, reimagined with grandmaster AI. Play English Draughts free — no download, no account, no fuss.
Thousands of players across the UK play on draughts.ai every day.
Join them — it's free, it's fast,
and the AI will challenge you.
Place 12 pieces each on the dark squares of your three nearest rows on the 8×8 board.
Move your pieces diagonally forward, one square at a time, on dark squares only.
Jump over opponent pieces diagonally. Captures are mandatory — you must take them.
Reach the opponent's back row to promote a piece to King — it can then move backwards too.
Capture all opponent pieces or leave them with no legal moves. That's the game!
Want the full rules? Read the complete Draughts rules guide →
Draughts has been part of British culture for centuries. While Americans call it "checkers," the British name — Draughts — comes from Middle English, meaning the act of drawing or moving pieces across the board.
The English Draughts (also called draught checkers) variant is the version you know: 8×8 board, 12 pieces, mandatory captures, and a King that earns the right to move backwards. Played in living rooms, pubs, and schools across the UK for generations.
At draughts.ai, we've brought this timeless board game into the modern era with a world-class AI opponent — built for UK players, honouring the British rules of the game.
When someone in the UK searches for "draughts play", "board game draughts", or "games draughts play", they're looking for exactly this — the classic two-player strategy game that has been a British household staple for generations. Draughts.ai brings that game online, for free, with the most demanding AI opponent available anywhere.
Whether you say draught checkers, English draught, or simply draughts game, you're describing the same thing: a beautifully balanced game of strategy, foresight, and sacrifice, played on a checkered board with 12 pieces per side.
Not all online draughts games are equal. The best ones enforce the official English Draughts rules — particularly mandatory captures, which are often skipped in casual implementations. Draughts.ai enforces every rule exactly as you'd find them in formal British play.
A strong AI opponent is also essential. Many free draughts games online use a simple random or greedy AI that any intermediate player can beat quickly. Draughts.ai uses a Minimax engine with alpha-beta pruning — the same algorithmic approach used by serious draughts programs — giving you a genuine, rewarding challenge every time you play.
Yes. Draughts.ai is completely free and requires no download, no app, and no account. Open your browser, go to draughts.ai, and you can play English Draughts instantly.
In the UK version of draughts: pieces move diagonally forward on dark squares; captures are mandatory; multi-jumps must be completed in one turn; reaching the back row promotes a piece to King (which can move forward and backward); and the winner is the player who captures all opponent pieces or leaves them with no legal moves.
English Draught refers to English Draughts — the standard British variant of the game. "Draught" (singular) can mean a single piece or a single move in the game. The game itself is called "Draughts" (plural) because it consists of a series of these individual moves.
Yes. "Draught checkers" is an informal combined term mixing the British word "draughts" with the American word "checkers." Both refer to the same game: English Draughts. On draughts.ai, we play by the official English Draughts (British) rules.
Start your draughts journey on draughts.ai — the AI enforces all rules automatically, so you'll learn the game by playing. For a written guide on all the rules, read our complete Draughts rules guide or how to play draughts page.