The Hexdame board is a regular hexagonconsisting of 61 cells, with each player having 16men in the initial setup as shown. A man can move forward one step to an adjacent empty cell, or can capture an enemy piece on an adjacent cell by jumping in the same line to the empty cell immediately beyond it. A king's movement and jumping are along rows of adjacent hex cells. Other than the above, the rules for Hexdame can be taken directly from those for international draughts. For convenience, these have been summarized below.
Summary of international draughts rules
White moves first, then moves alternate; a player may not pass a turn.
Men move forwards. If a man reaches the last row of the board at the conclusion of a move, it promotes to king; the promoted man is crowned for identification as king by placing a second checker of the same colouron top.
Jumping is mandatory, including making multiple jumps if available. If there are jumping options, the player must always select the option that captures the maximum number of the opponent's pieces ; if two options capture the same number, the player may choose.
A multi-jump can consist of single jumps having a combination of different directions.
Pieces jumped in a multi-jump are removed from the board only after the jumping move is complete.
A king can make a flying king move or capture.
When a king jumps, it may land on any empty cell beyond the jumped piece.
During a multi-jump, a piece may not be jumped more than once.
A player whose pieces all become captured, or is unable to make a legal move, loses the game.
If the players agree, or if the same position repeats three times with the same player having the move, the game is a draw.
Strategy differences
Though Hexdame precisely mirrors the rules of international draughts, the hex board geometry introduces important differences in play dynamic:
Greater complexity, since men have three directions for moving forward, instead of two; and kings have six directions of movement, instead of four on the 10×10 board.
A single man cannot thwart an opponent's man from advancing through the threat of being jumped, as it can in international draughts, since the opponent will always have another option for moving forward.
Each side has nine possible promotion cells on the hex board.
