The tavern board game you play in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is Checkers, run on the English Draughts variant. It sits alongside Fanorona and Nine-Man Morris as one of three tavern minigames, complete with a coin wager on each match. Winning comes down to understanding the capture rules and then controlling the board before the opponent forces trades on their terms.
Quick answer: Capture every one of your opponent’s pieces or block them so they have no legal move left. Hold the center early, keep your back row intact to deny the opponent a crowned piece, and bait forced captures to pull enemy pieces into bad squares.
Where to play Checkers and pick a wager
You first need a tavern unlocked, which happens after you win the brawl tied to that location. Once the tavern is open, walk up to the NPC sitting behind the Checkers board and interact with him to start a match.
Before the game begins you choose a wager, and the difficulty scales with the amount you put on the line. A larger bet means a tougher opponent, so start low while you learn the board.
| Wager option | Stake | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| I’ll wager my luck | 200 Reales | Lowest |
| Aye, let’s see what you got | 400 Reales | Medium |
| You are outmarched, lad! | 800 Reales | Highest |
How pieces move and capture
Each side starts with 12 pieces on an 8×8 board and takes turns. Pieces move diagonally, and the whole game is built around jumping over enemy pieces to capture them.
To make a capture, your piece has to be diagonally next to an enemy piece with an empty square directly beyond it. You jump over the enemy piece and land on that empty square, removing it from the board. You can chain multiple captures in a single turn, and the follow-up jump does not have to continue in the same direction.
Captures are not optional. If an enemy piece sits next to you and a legal jump is available, you must take it. The same rule applies to your opponent, which is exactly what makes baiting so effective later on.
When one of your pieces reaches the far row on the opponent’s side, it is crowned. A crowned piece can then move both forward and backward, giving it far more reach across the board.
Win and draw conditions
You win a match one of two ways. Either you capture all of your opponent’s pieces, or you leave them with no legal move to make on their turn. Both outcomes end the game in your favor and pay out the wager.
A match can also finish in a draw. That happens when neither side is making progress and moves start repeating without any change in position.
Tactics to beat the opponent
Since captures are forced, most wins come from steering the opponent into moves they do not want to make. A handful of positional habits will carry you through all three wager tiers.
- Keep your back row stacked. Holding your end pieces in place stops the opponent from crowning a piece there.
- Take the center early. Controlling the middle squares gives your pieces more capture options and limits the opponent’s.
- Trade when it helps your position. Accept that sacrificing a piece is often worth it if it sets up a stronger capture on your next turn.
- Use bait. Offer a piece the opponent is forced to jump, then punish the square they are pulled into with a follow-up capture.
These are broad Checkers principles, but they translate directly to the tavern board. Start on the 200 Reales wager to get comfortable with the forced-capture rhythm, then raise your stake once you can reliably close out matches on the center and lock down your back row.
