10x8 Checkers

[P.R.]

A good junk of the checkers community probably knows who Ed Trice is - co-author of the WCC checkers program, author of several papers on AI programming, etc. He is also the inventor of the Gothic Chess board game which is played on a 10x8 board (10 squares wide, 8 vertical), with 2 new pieces added.

Has anyone thought of how checkers would be on a 10x8 board? The board would still have the single corner on the left, double corner on the right. Each player would have 15 pieces on the first 3 rows (so 5 on each row) - and regular checkers rules would be applied.

I know there is international 10x10 draughts, and 12x12 canadian - but what about 10x8? This type of game could be a fresh and interesting variant to play - while also being a true test of crossboard ability being that the 8x8 opening memorization would be thrown out the window.

There is only one flaw (that i know of) to consider; a 3 kings vs 2 kings endgame in which the side with 2 kings has 1 king in each of the double corners - which of course would be a win in 8x8, but not on the 10x8 board. But I think this is OK - 10x10 International draughts and other draughts variants has times when a 3 kings vs 1 king endgame is a proven draw.

This imagination is very optimistic, but what does everyone think?

[Patrick Parker]

look at the two variations itsyourturn.com has
crowded checkers and sparse checkers

[P.R.]

These are nice variations, but I feel the 10x8 board be a little more interesting.

Does anyone want to play a game of Crowded Checkers at IYT? 10x10 board with checker rules - 20 peices each side.

[Patrick Parker]

my name there is Inferno0112

brainking.com has a gothic checkers variation