How to play Neon Checkers
Neon Checkers plays the full classic ruleset on a glowing 8×8 board. You command the cyan pieces at the bottom; the magenta CPU holds the top. Pieces move one square diagonally forward onto dark squares. Captures are mandatory: if you can jump an enemy piece, you must take it — and if another jump opens up from the landing square, you keep jumping in the same turn (multi-jump). Reach the farthest row and your piece is crowned a king, which glides diagonally in any direction. You win by capturing every enemy piece or by leaving the CPU with no legal move; run out of moves yourself and you lose.
Controls
Playing is pure tap-and-go: tap one of your cyan pieces to select it — every legal destination glows (gold for a quiet move, red for a capture) — then tap a glowing square to move. On desktop you can also navigate with the arrow keys and press Enter to select and move, Esc to deselect, and R to restart. A pulsing “Capture required!” badge appears whenever the rules force you to jump, so you never make an illegal move by accident.
Tips & strategy
Because captures are forced, the CPU can bait you: never leave a piece hanging where the enemy can trade up. Push toward the center early — central pieces control more squares — but keep your back rank guarded until you must move those pieces, since an empty back row invites the CPU through. Crown a king as soon as you safely can; one king dancing across the board endgame is worth more than two trapped men. When you are ahead on material, trade pieces aggressively — every even swap shrinks the CPU's options. And always count a forced capture sequence to its end before committing.
Scoring
Each game tracks your move count, pieces captured by you and pieces captured by the CPU, with captured pieces piling up in the trays below the board. Shorter wins with bigger capture margins are the mark of a sharp tactician — and if neither side can force a breakthrough within 80 quiet moves, the game is declared a draw.