A game older than chess
Archeologists found Alquerque boards carved into the stones of the Temple of Kurna in Egypt, dating back to c. 1400 BC. Moorish caravans carried it through North Africa into Iberia, where King Alfonso X described it in his 1283 Libro de los Juegos.
When French players added the rule of forced capture, Alquerque evolved into what we now call checkers. But the original — with its diagonal and orthogonal lines, its lightning chain jumps, its 5 × 5 intimacy — has a soul all its own.
Boards carved into temple roofs in ancient Egypt.
Arab scholars name it al-qirq and spread it across the Mediterranean.
Alfonso X of Castile immortalizes the rules in his Libro de los Juegos.
Evolves into modern checkers in French royal courts.
Reborn on your iPhone — the original rules, refined presentation.