TL;DR: Checkers traces from a board game found at the ancient city of Ur around 3000 BCE through centuries of rule changes in Egypt, France, and Britain before becoming one of the most widely played games in the world. In 1923, John Truskoski patented a folding board with built-in piece storage, the design that made the game genuinely portable. Original prints of that patent drawing are available framed or unframed.
In 1952, a computer scientist named Arthur Samuel wrote a checkers-playing program for an IBM 701 computer. It was among the first programs designed to improve its own performance through experience, what we now call machine learning. Samuel chose checkers not because it was simple, but because it was complex enough to be interesting and well-defined enough to be programmable. The game that started on a board found in 3000 BCE Mesopotamia was, by the mid-20th century, the testbed for one of the foundational ideas in artificial intelligence.
That arc, from ancient board to computing laboratory, reflects something genuine about checkers: it is a game with deceptively deep strategic content wrapped in rules simple enough to explain in two minutes. That combination has kept it in continuous play for longer than almost any other game in history.
The Earliest Evidence: Ur and the Ancient Board
The earliest artifact that resembles a checkers board was excavated from the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, in present-day Iraq, and dates to approximately 3000 BCE. The board has a grid pattern strikingly similar to modern checkers boards, and game pieces were found nearby. Archaeologists have been cautious about claiming this is a direct ancestor of modern checkers, because the rules and the specific game cannot be definitively established from the physical objects alone.
What the Ur discovery establishes is that grid-based board games with pieces are at least 5,000 years old. The specific game that became checkers likely developed independently from this early tradition, but the parallel is close enough that many historians of games treat the Ur board as part of the broader checkers lineage.
Alquerque: The Egyptian Connection
The more direct ancestor of modern checkers is generally identified as Alquerque, an ancient game described in Arabic sources and believed to have been played in the Middle East and North Africa for millennia before the common era. Alquerque used a 5x5 board with 12 pieces per side. Players moved along lines rather than diagonal squares, captured by jumping over opponent pieces, and the goal was to eliminate all opposing pieces.
Alquerque spread throughout the Arab world and into medieval Europe via the Moorish occupation of Spain, where Alfonso X of Castile documented it in his 1283 manuscript "Libro de los juegos" (Book of Games) along with chess and dice games. The rules described by Alfonso are recognizably related to modern checkers: pieces capture by jumping, multiple jumps are allowed in a single turn, and the goal is to eliminate the opponent's pieces or block them from moving.
The game was popular enough that Alfonso X devoted extensive attention to it in what is now one of the most important primary sources for medieval European games. The "Libro de los juegos" is the first known European documentation of the game that would become checkers, and its inclusion alongside chess suggests that Alquerque held equivalent cultural status in 13th-century Castile.
The French Transformation: From Alquerque to Draughts
The critical development that created modern checkers from Alquerque happened in France, likely around 1100 AD. An unknown French player adapted Alquerque to the larger chessboard, replacing the 5x5 grid with an 8x8 board and increasing each side's piece count from 12 to 12 pieces occupying the back three rows of the board. This version, initially called "Ferses" and later "le jeu plaisant de dames" (the pleasing game of ladies), introduced the diagonal movement that distinguishes modern checkers from Alquerque.
The name "jeu de dames" reflected the social reality of medieval French court life: the game was particularly popular among noblewomen, who played it as a social activity in a way that chess, more associated with military strategy and male courtly culture, was not. The game's name in French, and the English derivative "draughts," preserves this gendered social history.
The 12x12 variant, which uses a 10x10 board and 20 pieces per side, was developed in France in the 16th century and is still the standard version in much of Europe and in international championship play. The 8x8 variant, using 12 pieces per side, became the standard in Britain and North America, where it is called "checkers."
English Rules and the Formalization of Play
The version of checkers played in Britain developed its own specific rules through the 17th and 18th centuries. The practice of "crowning" a piece that reaches the opponent's back row, allowing it to move backward as well as forward, became established custom, though its exact origins are disputed. Forced capture, the rule requiring a player to jump an opponent's piece when a jump is available, became standard in English play by the 16th century.
In the 1750s, William Payne, an English mathematician, published a written treatise on checkers that codified the rules as they were practiced in English play. Payne's treatise was significant not for introducing new rules but for writing down established ones. Before his work, the rules existed as shared practice rather than written law, which meant disputes about specific situations had no formal resolution mechanism.
The first checkers world championship was held in 1840, formalizing the game as a competitive sport with international standing. Championship play in the 19th and early 20th century attracted serious analytical attention. Marion Tinsley, who dominated the game in the 20th century, winning world championships in 1955, 1958, and from 1975 to 1991, is widely considered the greatest checkers player in history. He lost only seven tournament games in his entire career.
The Patent That Made the Game Portable
As checkers grew in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, manufacturers began engineering improvements to the physical product. The game's wide appeal, playable by children and adults, requiring no setup time once learned, meant it was also played in informal settings: dining room tables, front porches, parks, while traveling.
The problem with the standard flat board was storage and transport. Pieces scattered. The board had to be carried separately from the pieces. Setting up on an uneven surface risked pieces sliding out of position.
John Truskoski of Chicago, Illinois solved this in 1923 with a patented folding checkerboard design. His board folded in half, and the recessed squares held the pieces securely when the board was closed. You could fold the board mid-game, store it, and reopen it with every piece in its original position. The design also made the game genuinely portable: one compact unit, pieces inside, ready to play wherever you were.
Truskoski's patent is his only known filing. He solved one practical problem well and moved on. That is the kind of invention that tends not to get remembered, but the folding checkerboard with built-in storage is now the default form of the game, found in nearly every household that owns a set. Someone designed that. It was John Truskoski, in 1923, in Chicago.
Shop Checkers Patent Art Prints
The original U.S. Patent Office drawing that gave checkers a portable, storable form. Available framed or unframed.
Checkers (1923), John Truskoski
Truskoski's 1923 folding board design is the kind of patent that shaped everyday life without anyone noticing. The recessed-square, fold-and-store form he documented in this drawing became the standard for checkers sets worldwide, turning a flat board game into a self-contained portable unit. A piece that works in a game room, a family space, or anywhere that the 5,000-year history of checkers would feel at home.
Best for: Board game enthusiasts, family game rooms, anyone who grew up playing checkers and wants a piece of that history on the wall
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is the game of checkers?
The most direct ancestor of modern checkers is generally identified as Alquerque, an ancient game documented in 13th-century Spain but believed to be much older, with roots in the Middle East and North Africa. The specific grid-board artifact found at the ancient city of Ur dates to approximately 3000 BCE, giving the broader tradition a history of at least 5,000 years.
What is the difference between checkers and draughts?
Checkers and draughts refer to the same basic game, but the names reflect regional variations in rules and board size. In the United States and Canada, "checkers" typically refers to the 8x8 board game with 12 pieces per side. "Draughts" is the term used in Britain for the same 8x8 game. International championship play uses a 10x10 board with 20 pieces per side, a variant called international draughts that is standard in much of continental Europe.
When was the checkers world championship first held?
The first checkers world championship was held in 1840. Competitive checkers has been played at the championship level since then, with Marion Tinsley widely considered the greatest player in history. Tinsley won world championships in 1955, 1958, and from 1975 to 1991, losing only seven tournament games over his entire career.
What did John Truskoski patent in 1923?
John Truskoski of Chicago, Illinois patented a folding checkerboard design in 1923. The board folded in half and featured recessed squares that held pieces securely when the board was closed, making it possible to store a mid-game board without losing piece positions and to transport the entire game as a single compact unit. The design became the standard form for commercial checkers sets.
What checkers patent art prints are available?
The 1923 checkers patent by John Truskoski is available as a framed or unframed print, rendered in a watercolor style on museum-quality paper from the original U.S. Patent Office drawing. It captures the folding board design that made checkers portable and is one of the most recognizable board game patents in the collection.
Written by Rider Tuff, founder of Timeless Patents. Timeless Patents makes museum-quality patent art prints from original U.S. Patent Office documents, celebrating the inventors behind your favorite sports, hobbies, and passions. Every print is available framed or unframed. Shop the full games collection →
