# Highest possible number of kings in checkers/draughts? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 6, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444 "2011-02-06T22:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/1 "2011-02-06T22:18:22Z")
For my son’s birthday last year I made him a Lego chessboard. Now I want to make checkers pieces so that we can play checkers also. Each checker piece will be a lego piece, and when the piece becomes a king, we’ll have some Lego bling to put on top to mark it as a king. There will be black and white pieces. I know how many pieces to make, but how many kings do I need to provide for? To be more specific: let’s assume a game of [English-rule draughts/checkers](http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Draughts): 8x8 board, 12 pieces per side, no flying kings, men cannot capture backwards, black moves first. 1. What is the theoretical maximum number of black kings that could be occur in a game? 2. What is the theoretical maximum number of white kings that could be occur in a game? (I suppose this is the same as 1, but maybe not) 3. What is the theoretical maximum total number of kings (both colors) that could occur in a game? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/2 "2011-02-06T22:54:44Z")
I see no reason why it could not occur that _every_ piece ends up being kinged, though it would almost certainly require collusion by the players to occur. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/3 "2011-02-07T02:27:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I see no reason why it could not occur that _every_ piece ends up being kinged, though it would almost certainly require collusion by the players to occur. It’s definitely possible for one complete set if you play with the huffing rule (If at least one piece can capture on a move and no piece does, huffing lets the opponent remove the offending piece and then take his turn.) Simply have black or white refuse all captures. Though you have to keep one piece around long enough for the other side to get all 12 kings of course. Usually games are now played requiring a capture if it can be made and if a no-capture move is made it must be retracted and a capture made instead. I’d think it might be possible for every white (red) piece to become a king or every black piece to become a king under these rules, but I’m pretty sure you couldn’t get both sets of kings under either set. I don’t think you could get out of each other’s way enough and still have no possible captures. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/4 "2011-02-07T19:22:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I see no reason why it could not occur that _every_ piece ends up being kinged Because you would have to get a bunch of pieces out of the way of each other. Do you man all pieces on both sides? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/5 "2011-02-12T18:54:34Z")
The way I’ve always played the game. you couldn’t be kinged unless you had a piece to crown the other one. How does one indicate a king otherwise? In a version called “kangaroo split”, you can split the king, and both pieces retain kingship. This is indicated by leaving the checkers crown side up. Is this what is done in the official game? ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-possible-number-of-kings-in-checkers-draughts/570444/6 "2011-02-12T20:41:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > This is indicated by leaving the checkers crown side up. Is this what is done in the official game? Yes. If you don’t have a spare checker to crown a king, you just flip the piece over and it is treated as a king. The stacking for the crown is more of a visual aid to seeing where all the kings are. But there’s nothing in the official rules that limits the number of kings you can have on the board at once.