The board looks familiar. The capture hierarchy does not: piece count, the capturing piece and captured kings can all decide the move.
Italian Checkers — Dama Italiana — uses an 8×8 board and 12 pieces per side. Men move and capture only forward; kings move both ways, but remain short-range.
The game becomes distinctive when more than one capture is available. You do not simply choose a jump: you work through a strict order of priorities.
First take the route with the most pieces. If equal routes can be made by a man or a king, the king must capture. Remaining ties are broken by the number of enemy kings taken, then by which king appears first in the sequence.
This order makes a position deterministic long before the final landing square. Count first; only then evaluate the result.
An ordinary man cannot capture an enemy king. A king may capture men or kings, so promotion changes not only movement but also which opposing pieces can threaten you.
The dark man sits beside the white king, but that jump is forbidden. In Italian Checkers, only a king may capture another king.
When a man reaches the far row, it becomes a king and the move ends. It cannot reverse direction and continue with king powers during the same turn.
White jumps onto the back row and is crowned. Even if a backward king capture appears, it waits until the next turn.
Both use 8×8, 12 pieces and short kings. English Checkers usually lets you choose among available capture routes. Italian Checkers may decide the exact route through its priority hierarchy, and a man is never allowed to take a king.
No. Kings move and capture one diagonal step at a time.
No. Only a king may capture an enemy king.
Yes. An ordinary move is unavailable whenever a legal capture exists.
Yes. The largest capture total is the first priority.
A capture by a king has priority, followed by the route taking the most kings and then the route meeting a king earliest.
No. Italian men move and capture forward only.
No. Reaching the promotion row ends that move.
Yes. Choose Computer in the setup to learn the capture hierarchy without creating an account.