Alquerque

Alquerque is an abstract strategy board game from the Middle East and North Africa, played on a 5x5 board of points connected by lines. It is widely regarded as a direct ancestor of draughts (checkers).

The board consists of 25 intersections arranged in a square, with lines linking adjacent points along horizontal, vertical and sometimes diagonal paths depending on variant. Each player starts with an equal number of pieces, commonly 12, placed on the points of their home side.

Movement and capture: A piece may move one step along a line to an adjacent vacant point. A capture is made by jumping over an adjacent opponent's piece along a straight line to the immediately following vacant point; the jumped piece is removed. Multiple captures are possible in a single turn if the paths allow. In many rule sets, capturing is mandatory and players may be required to continue capturing if possible.

Objective and end conditions: The aim is to reduce the opponent's pieces to zero or to leave them with no legal moves. The game ends when one side cannot move or has all pieces captured.

Variants and history: Variants exist with different starting setups, board configurations, or capture rules. Alquerque dates to ancient times and is attested in Arabic and North African sources; it spread to Europe where it influenced the development of checkers/draughts, which later used different boards but preserved the basic jumping capture mechanic.