Dama Rules: How to Play Spanish Checkers

Spanish checkers is the dama tradition you can actually sit down and play right now. It's the exact ruleset behind the board on this site: flying kings, forward-only men, and a mandatory-capture rule with a distinctive tiebreak, where a line that captures more kings beats an equal-length line that captures fewer.

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Setting Up the Board

Dama is played on an 8x8 board, but only its 32 dark squares are ever used. Each side starts with 12 men, filling the dark squares of the three rows closest to that player, and leaving the middle two rows empty. White moves first, and turns alternate from there.

One detail sets Spanish boards apart from the American layout most players learn first: dama sits mirrored, with the double corner on each player's left. In practice that means the square in your near-left corner is light, not dark. That's the opposite of what an American board would show. It doesn't change how any piece moves; it's purely a matter of how the board is laid out at the start.

How Men Move

• A man steps one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square.
• A man captures diagonally forward only. It can never jump backward, whatever the board looks like.

Mandatory Capture and the Kings Tiebreak

Whenever a capture is on offer, you must take it. Quiet moves are off the table until every capturing option is exhausted. A capturing turn keeps going as long as the same piece has another jump available, and the pieces it jumps stay on the board until the whole sequence ends, so nothing can be jumped twice in one turn.

Two rules decide which line you're allowed to play when more than one is open:

• Maximum capture. If several capturing sequences exist, you must choose one of the sequences that captures the most pieces. Shorter lines are illegal while a longer one is available.
• Most-kings tiebreak. If two or more of those longest sequences capture the same number of pieces, you must play the one that captures the most kings. This is the rule that most clearly marks a game as Spanish dama rather than a cousin variant.

Flying Kings and the Stop-and-Crown Rule

A man that reaches the far row is crowned a king. If that happens in the middle of a capturing sequence, the sequence stops immediately: the newly crowned king does not keep jumping in the same turn, even if another capture is sitting right in front of it.

Once crowned, a king plays very differently from a man. Kings are "flying": a king may slide any number of empty squares along a diagonal as a move, and it captures by leaping an enemy piece from a distance, landing on any empty square beyond it along that same diagonal. That long reach is what gives Spanish dama its tactical character.

Winning and Drawing a Game

You win by capturing every one of your opponent's pieces, or by leaving them with no legal move on their turn. A game is drawn in either of two ways: the same position, with the same player to move, occurs for a third time (threefold repetition), or 40 moves pass for each side (80 individual turns in total) with no piece captured and no man moved. A single capture or man move resets that count.

Not Every Dama Tradition Plays This Way

Spanish dama is only one of the games that share the name. Turkish dama drops the diagonal entirely: its pieces move and capture in straight lines, like a rook, on an unmarked board with 16 men per side instead of 12. If you want to see how kings behave once you step outside the Spanish tradition, our comparison of flying kings across dama traditions lines Spanish, Turkish, and Italian kings up side by side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is dama the same game as Spanish checkers?

Yes. "Dama" is simply the Spanish word for the game (the full Spanish name is dama española, or juego de damas); on this site it plays by the Spanish ruleset: flying kings, forward-only men, and a mandatory-capture rule with a kings tiebreak.

Who moves first in dama rules?

White moves first, then the players alternate turns for the rest of the game.

Do you have to capture in Spanish checkers?

Yes. Capturing is mandatory. When more than one capturing line is available, you must play the one that takes the most pieces.

What happens when two capture lines take the same number of pieces?

You must play the line that captures the most kings. This tiebreak is the signature rule of Spanish dama, and it is easy to miss if you learned checkers elsewhere.

Can a man capture backward in dama?

No. Men move and capture diagonally forward only. They never jump backward, even when a backward capture would take a piece.

How far can a king move in Spanish dama?

As far as the diagonal allows. Kings are "flying": they slide across any number of empty squares to move, and capture an enemy piece from a distance by landing on any empty square beyond it on the same diagonal.

How does a game of dama end in a draw?

By threefold repetition (the same position, with the same player to move, occurring a third time), or when 40 moves pass for each side (80 individual turns total) with no capture and no man moved.

Ready to put these rules to work? Our quick-start guide to playing dama online walks through your first game, or jump straight in below.

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