o you remember how to play checkers? If so, this game will look familiar. If not, that's okay. The game is quite a bit different from the board game. But it's interesting and fun, and I suspect it will be a hit. It will be the highest paying non-video-poker machine game available in most casinos. In some casinos, this game will pay more than any available video poker game.

            The smartest bets are betting multiples of nine coins --- i.e. 9, 18, 27, 36, or 45. You MAY bet on one to nine checkers, with one to five coins per checker, but let me first explain the way the game is played if you are going to attack it intelligently --- that is, by betting multiples of 9 coins.

            You start with a 64-square checkerboard where all checkers appear on the light-colored squares. You always start with three "kings" (i.e., checkers that may jump either forward or backwards) in the three right-most light-colored squares in the first row --- numbered 30, 31, and 32 on most of the figures. When you press "deal", nine black checkers are placed randomly somewhere in the 28 light colored squared in the top seven rows. Once the black checkers land, they stay put until the end of the game. Your red checkers are always on the offensive. You do not need to be concerned at all about defense.

Figure 1

            The object of the game is for you to jump as many of the black checkers as you can using your red checkers. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let's try an example:

            Notice the big red Xs on squares 23 and 24. These will be flashing when you see them. This means that the only legal plays are for you to jump the black checker on square 27 by moving from 31---24 or to jump the same checker by moving from 32-23. The correct play isn't close. If you jump by moving 31---24, your turn is over because there are no further checkers to be jumped. Your score will be "one checker jumped" and you will be paid accordingly. As soon as you move by jumping 32---23, however, you'll see another big red X flashing on square 14, which means you may now jump the checker on 18. Once you make that jump, you'll see another big red X flashing on square 21, meaning you may now jump the checker on 17. Your score will be "three checkers jumped." Pay schedules vary, and we'll talk about them later, but whatever the pay schedule, the object of the game is to jump as many checkers as possible, and jumping three is always much better than jumping one.

          This particular problem is simple --- once you get the hang of it. You'll see players pointing with their fingers saying stuff like, "If I move here, then I can jump here, here, and here. If I move there first, then I can . . ." This "thinking about it" is very common, and indeed necessary for success, which is why betting 9 coins per deal involves less money bet per hour than 5 coins per deal at video poker. But when you are thinking about it, don't touch! These are touch screens and if you touch one of the red Xs, you've made your play. If there are still red Xs on the board, you may press the "undo" button, which is equivalent to "unholding" a card at video poker. But if you touch a red X (on purpose or accidentally) and there are no additional legal plays, the "undo" doesn't work and your play is over. 

            If we land on square 15, we have to choose between jumping the checker on square 10 OR the one on square 11---but not both. If we can land on square 14 or 16, we can jump them both. Square 14 is unreachable, but we can get to 16. Once we realize that, it is easy to see that we must start our jumping with 32---23 rather than 31-24. Whether we pick up the spare checker on square 25 before or after (or in the middle) of our jumping 32---23---16---7---14 is totally irrelevant.

            Sometimes the problem is a bit more complicated. Consider Figure 3:

Try it and see if you can figure out how to jump 5 checkers. I'll wait.

            The only potentially jumpable checkers are on 25, 26, 27, 18 and 11. But you must jump the checker on 18 going from left to right, rather than right to left, or you will not be in position to jump the checker on 11. If you jump the checker on 26 with the one on 30, not only will you miss out on the one on 11, you'll also fail to pick up the one on 25. So the correct answer is, in any order, 30---21; 31---22---15---8; and 32---23.

            If you choose to make the 32---23 move first, you'll touch the big red X on square 23. But when you do, the game doesn't know whether you want to make the move 32---23 or the move 30---23, so the checkers on 30 and 32 will both light up and you'll have to pick one. Hopefully you pick the one on 32.

            Sometimes, as in Figure 4 there will be no legal plays. This will happen 37.8% of the time.  You make your bet; push "deal" and all nine black checkers appear on squares where you have no moves.  The machine gives you a big, yellow "Game Over."

            Your money is gone --- and your horse didn't even get out of the starting gate. Seems unfair --- EXCEPT --- the pay schedules are adjusted so that you get paid well enough when checkers are jumpable to make up for these total misses. If they gave you your money back when no play was possible, they'd have to reduce the return when you do make the jumps. 

            Looking back on Figure 4, notice we numbered the rows and columns rather than the individual squares. We did this to make the following explanation easier. You might have noticed that your red checkers only move on the odd rows --- rows 1, 3, 5, and 7 and that each black checker it jumps must be on rows 2, 4, and 6. To make it tougher, black checkers in column h are also safe from attack. For a black checker to be jumpable, it must therefore land on one of the nine squares in columns b, d, and f of rows 2, 4, and 6.  Plus there must be a "path" to the black checker including open squares allowing a red checker to both "take off" and "land" while making the jump. To jump all nine checkers, you'll first need them to land in the right spaces. Not impossible, but it is 6.9 million to 1 against you.

           Like all skill-based games in a casino (i.e., video poker, blackjack, sports betting, and live poker), there are good games and bad and you have to learn to distinguish between them. In Cash King Checkers, like video poker, you can do this with the pay table. The following legal pay schedules assume you are betting one to five coins on each of nine checkers:

           Schedule A won't be available everywhere because there are jurisdictions where games returning over 100% aren't allowed. But the other ones are at least possible --- depending on how tight or loose a casino generally configures its games. For most players, receiving 36 coins per coin bet (or 180 coins when you bet 5 coins per checker) for 4 checkers jumped means the game returns 98% or more --- which is acceptable. I recommend avoiding games returning 35 coins or less for 4 checkers jumped as you have no long-term chance. These returns assume perfect play, which is deceptively difficult on some hands.   Practice and study will improve your play.

            The return on every pay schedule is the highest when you bet on 9 black checkers, and the return goes down as you bet on fewer checkers. The following number are only appropriate for pay schedule C above, but reducing the number of checkers bet has a similar reduction in returns for every pay schedule. Betting 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 coins per checker has no effect on the return.

            When you bet five or more checkers, you sometimes wind up in a bonus round. The return for the bonus round is included in the returns shown on the above pay schedules. The bonus round occurs more frequently and more lucratively when you bet 9 checkers. Let me explain how it works.

            When you bet 9 checkers, ten percent of the time one of the 9 checkers will be gold rather than black --- and slightly more often than 1 in 70 games will the gold checker be jumpable. If you manage to jump that gold checker, you enter a bonus round that returns, on average, almost 115 coins per coin bet.  This amount (115) varies across the different percentages but is always spaced between the values of jumping 5 and 6 checkers.  It is important to keep in mind how much the bonus round is worth, because sometimes this changes the "jumping more checkers is better" rule. Compare the following two games:

            In Figure 5, if we "go for the gold", we'll end up with two checkers, which are worth 9 coins. If we avoid picking up the gold, we can end up with three checkers worth 15 coins. Clearly in this case, it is better to select fewer coins but go to the bonus round worth 115 coins on average.

            The rule of thumb for avoiding the gold checker is as follows: If avoiding the gold checker allows you to jump at least six checkers, avoid the gold. If you cannot pick up at least six checkers, with or without the gold, always grab the gold.

            In Figure 6, we can capture six black checkers if we make the loop, clockwise or counterclockwise, starting from square 30. (As we examine it beforehand, it might seem like our own man blocks jumping the sixth checker. But that man will move as soon as you jump the first checker, so there will be no problem jumping the sixth checker once you get there.) If you stop off and pick off the gold checker, you will only end up with either three or five checkers. Our bonus round average of 115 coins won't come close to making up for the at-least-160 coins we gave up by not picking up the sixth man. Many people will find impossible to avoid picking up the gold checker, because they make the usually-good rule to ALWAYS pick up the gold checker when possible.

            When you get into bonus round, you have a series of choices to make. Each choice consists of choosing one of four identical-appearing checkers. Each checker has either a number under it  (representing coins you receive) or the word "END". You keep going until you hit an END or make twelve successful choices in a row.

             In Figures 7 and 8 (insert Bonus 3 and Bonus 6) we see two pictures of the bonus round. In Figure 7, we see it after four rounds have been completed. The first three rounds you couldn't lose, and you dodged the first bullet on the fourth round. Now we are looking at the fifth round, and you see four red checkers. Let's say you pick the one on the lower left. We now proceed to Figure 8.

            In Figure 8, we see that we picked a space worth 20 coins. We could have picked one worth 15, 30, or could have ended the round by picking END. We now continue to the sixth round, and each choice is like the one presented here.

The results in the bonus round are not predetermined. On each subsequent round, it really matters each time which of the four checkers you pick. At the same time, there is no skill in picking these checkers. This part of the game is 100% luck.

I played this game for two hours straight and found it thoroughly enjoyable. Players who enjoy figuring out strategy will find the game fascinating. It's not extremely difficult, at least for experienced game players, but you do need to maintain your concentration and for most players it is probably more difficult than it first appears. I predict the game will be a hit among video poker players, as thoughtful decision-makers will do well at both games. It will also appeal to some slot players, because most of the choices on the game are easy enough that players will be able to figure out the correct play. This makes it considerably easier for first-timers to successfully "wing it" than is true for video poker.

One additional attractive feature to this game is that once you have mastered the basics of the game, you do not need to memorize strategy tables. This feature alone will make this game more attractive than video poker to some players.

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