What is Lasca?

Lasca is a draughts variant invented by Emanuel Lasker, world chess champion from 1894 to 1921, and published in 1911. Captured pieces are not removed. They go under the capturing piece and form a column, so a piece taken early can come back to life later.

How to play

• The board has 25 playable squares on a 7×7 grid, and each side starts with 11 soldiers.
• Soldiers move one square diagonally forward. Officers, marked with a star, move one square diagonally in any direction.
• If you can jump, you must, and a jump continues as long as the same column can keep jumping.
• A jump takes only the top piece of the enemy column and places it underneath your own.
• The top piece owns the column. If a jump exposes a piece of the other colour, the column changes sides.
• A soldier reaching the far rank becomes an officer, and its jump ends there.
• You win when your opponent has no legal move.

Strategy

• Tall columns carrying your own pieces are strong, because an enemy jump only removes the top piece.
• Watch what lies underneath an enemy column. One jump might release a prisoner of yours.
• Officers move backward, so an early promotion often decides the endgame.

Ways to play

• Against the computer: four levels. Wins raise your rating, which sets your place on the leaderboard.
• Quick match: an online opponent, with a computer player stepping in if nobody is around.
• Play a friend: make a private room and send the code or link.
• One screen: two players take turns on the same device.

FAQ

Who invented Lasca? Emanuel Lasker, the German world chess champion, who published it in 1911.

How is Lasca different from checkers? Captured pieces stay on the board as prisoners under a column and can be freed, which often turns a game round.

Can you lose a column you built? Yes, one piece at a time. Each jump removes the top piece, and the piece underneath then commands the column.