King Movement
📋 What it is
A king moves and captures diagonally in any of the four directions, one square at a time (in standard draughts).
🗣️ Coach says
A king is a two-way piece. In standard American/English checkers it still moves ONE square per step, but now forward OR backward. That backward reach lets a king chase, defend, and set traps a plain checker never could.
🧠 Memory hook
Same one-step slide — but now the king can go home again.
😂 Giggle
Why did the forced capture rule keep everyone honest?
Because if you can jump, you must jump!
😲 Whoa!
In the "flying kings" of International draughts a king can slide MANY squares along a diagonal like a chess bishop — the same crown, a very different power depending on the variant.
✅ Quick check: How is a king's movement different from a plain checker's in standard checkers?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
A king moves diagonally forward AND backward (all four diagonal directions); a plain checker only goes forward.
The added backward diagonal is the king's entire advantage in standard rules.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Place a king in the middle and mark every square it could move to. You should count up to four diagonal neighbours.