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Before you set up the board, you need to choose who goes first. You can do this based on who won the last game, a coin toss, or by any other method. The person who will go first will take the black checkers and the other will take the white. Keep in mind that in checkers, the player with the black checkers always goes first. Sit across from your opponent and place the board between you and your opponent. The board is made up of 64 alternating dark and light squares which appear in 8 rows of 8. There are 32 light squares and 32 dark squares. Place the board so that each player has a light colored square on the corner of the board on his or her right side. Have each player place his pieces on the 12 dark squares in the first three rows closest to him or her. Each of these three rows should have a total of 4 checkers. Remember that checkers may only move in diagonal directions on the dark squares. Since the board has 8 rows, 6 of the rows will be taken up by the players' checkers and two rows will be left open in the middle of the board. In tournament checkers games, each player gets five minutes to make a move. If you want to time each other’s moves to keep the game moving along, make sure that you place a timer near the checkers board before you begin a game.
Determine who will have the first turn. Set up the board. Place the checkers on the board. Decide if you are going to time each other’s moves.