High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! English draughts (International English) or checkers (American English and Canadian English), also called American checkers or straight checkers or in Israel damka, is a form of draughts board game. Unlike international draughts, it is played on an eight by eight squared board (with sixty-four total squares) with twelve pieces on each side. The pieces move and capture diagonally. They may only move forward until they reach the opposite end of the board, when they are "crowned" or "kinged" and may henceforth move and capture both backward and forward.