Italian Checkers is a Checkers variant popular in Italy and wherever Italian people have emigrated, particularly some Northern African countries. In Italy it is called "Dama Italiana".
Italian Checkers is played on an 8x8 checker board, like Standard Checkers, except that the board is "mirrored", so that the "double corner" is on the left of each player.
Each player has 12 pieces, which are played on the dark squares. The player with the lighter-colored pieces makes the first move.
Gameplay is very similar to Standard Checkers – single men can only move forward, can only jump forward, and are kinged when they reach their opponent's king row, whereupon they may move both forward and backward on the diagonals.
Italian Checkers differs from Standard Checkers in that single men may not jump kings.
The game also has somewhat peculiar capture rules, in that maximum capture is compulsory – if you have the choice of several moves, you must choose the one that captures the most men, and if any options include the capture of kings, you must play the option that captures the largest number of kings. And finally, if there is more than one possible move that captures the same number of kings, the one that captures the king first in the jump sequence must be played.
See also: Other Checkers Variants
