No one knows for sure the exact rules of Alquerque, the ancestor of all Draughts variants. Arie van der Stoep has worked on the history of Draughts since the 1970s and proposed this interpretation which might well be the original rules as played in Middle-East and Spain in the 10th century.

• The board and initial position is the following:

  

• Players take turn by moving one piece along the drawn lines
• Pieces can move to an adjacent empty position, either forward or sideway
• An adjacent opponent piece can be captured by jumping over it (which implies the next position is available)

  

• A piece reaching the opposite row is promoted to a king
• When possible, several captures can be performed at the same round (with the same piece)
• Captures can not be performed backward, except by a king
• Captures are not compulsory
• A king can move along a line of free positions (long range king)
• After capturing, the king can stop at any free position after the captured piece (no king halt)
• A player not able to move any of his pieces loses the game

Pieces: red vs black, promoted pieces have an extra white ring.