Is it possible to fix the checkers implementation to follow the rules of first move?
Red (or black if using black and white pieces) always moves first per the World Checkers Draughts Federation.
The rule from the WCDF:
ORDER OF PLAY
1.12 To start the first game the players decide by random selection (i) which color they will play. In subsequent games the players alternate colours.
1.13 The first move in each game is made by the player with the Red men; thereafter the moves are made by each player in turn (ii).
Official pieces are red and white but in games with black and white the black pieces are considered the red pieces and should always move first.
However, if I choose to play black, the white pieces move first.
No, actually you cannot. If I choose to play black the board makes a move for white immediately. Switching sides is also not “arbitrary” as black square one should be b8 on a chessboard. Here is a link to the official rules from WCDF to see square co-ordinates and also other rules.
The American Chess Federation site I got the link from (click on Classroom in the menu, the either WCDF Rules or Tournament rules): https://www.usacheckers.com/
As you can see, black should be on the dark squares of blacks side of the board in chess, with “square 1” for checkers being the chess notation of b8. This allows you to follow notation in books just like you do for chess.
Here are two videos, first one shows black on the proper squares and choosing black to play, white still moves first (named: Checkers1_black on proper squares).
The second one has black on the wrong squares, the ones white used in the first video, but black square one is the wrong square for blacks checker 1. I choose to play black and it moves “blacks” checker but it still has the white checker count highlighted because it is trying to move a white piece (named: Checkers2_black on wrong squares).
I had to use Google Drive since Imgur won’t allow videos over 1 min.
First video:
Second video:
Please let me know if you need more info to correct this.
Unfortunately, the fact that they sold the v1 board with expensive checkers but not a forced capture mode leads one to believe that checkers was not a priority.
The board is rotationally symmetric. So to emulate playing black and black going first:
Put the black pieces on ranks 1-3
Click “play as white”
You will be black checkers and move first
If you instead want the AI to play black and move first
Put the black checkers on ranks 1-3
Turn the board upside down
Click “play as black”
The AI will be black and move first.
In either case - the display showing piece counts will be color reversed.
The board does not distinguish between white and black checkers, it considers white ranks 1-3 and black ranks 6-8. So you can trick it.
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The other way to look at it is just that our white = black per the checkers rules.
We keep the chess convention of white first because it is easier for people move from chess. The colors could be anything / it is arbitrary. If we made black move first, then I expect more people would be confused.
There is no wrong position for the pieces - as the board is rotationally symmetric. The bottom left square is occupied by a checker no matter which side or color you play as.