Alician Draughts

The rules of Alician Draughts were first described in the book "Les Jeux de dames non orthodoxes et autres jeux à pions" in 1956.

The standard game of International Draughts is played using two boards, A and B. The normal array is on board A; board B starts empty.

In turn, each player makes a single move on either board following these three rules:

1. A move must be legal on the board where it is played.
2. A piece can only move or capture if the corresponding destination square on the other board is vacant.
3. After moving, the piece is transfered to the corresponding square on the other board.

The original board (not the "mirror board") decides the game:

Whenever a player has no piece left on the original board, he loses even within a move. A move consists of up to three stages: Movement (which can be a jump in case of a capture), Transfer of the moved piece to the other board, Removal of any captured pieces. That is, if at any stage a player had no pieces left on the original board, he lost the game.

In practice, it is possible to play Alician Draughts on a single board, if the checkers have a piece of felt glued to their bottom. When a piece (men or king) is transferred to the "mirror board", it is just turned upside down.

Despite many similarities Alician Draughts is in fact a very different game. While in International Draughts more than 50% of all tournament games today end in a draw, in Alician Draughts a draw is impossible.