Dama is the Philippine member of the international draughts family, traditionally drawn as a lattice of diagonal lines on wood or cardboard rather than as a chequered board. Capture is compulsory and a player must take the line that captures the most pieces.
Variant implemented
Filipino Dama on the 8×8 diagonal-lines board, 12 pieces each, compulsory maximum capture, flying kings ("dama").
Board and pieces
An 8×8 board, traditionally drawn as a lattice of diagonal lines rather than as chequered squares. Play uses 32 points.
Setup
Twelve pieces each, filling the three rows nearest each player.
Turn
A man moves one step diagonally forward. A promoted piece — a "dama" — slides any distance along a diagonal.
Capture and scoring
Capture by jumping an adjacent enemy piece to the empty point beyond. Men capture in any diagonal direction, forwards or backwards. Capture is compulsory and you must take a line that captures the most. Captured pieces stay on the board until the whole sequence finishes, so nothing is jumped twice.
Win condition
Capture every enemy piece, or block your opponent so they have no legal move.
Draw condition
A long stretch with no capture and no promotion ends the game.
Special rules
A man promotes only if its move ends on the far row. Passing over the far row during a chained capture does not promote it.
Computer opponent
Alpha-beta with capture-first ordering; the evaluation weights material, king count and how far men have advanced.