Lasca (also known as Laska) is a two-player board game played on a square checkerboard that was invented by the second World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker in 1911.  Lasca is derived from English Draughts (American Checkers) and a Russian game, Bashni (Towers).

• Board
• Objective
• Play

Lasca is played on a 7x7 checkerboard.

The initial position of dark (red) and light (orange) checkers is shown in the following picture:

Lasca has almost the same rules as English Checkers with the following differences:

• According to Emanuel Lasker, White always starts the game.  (On igGameCenter, however, dark starts.)
• When a single checker (or a king) is captured it's not removed from the board but is placed below the capturing checker (or a king) forming a stack.  If several checkers (or kings) are captured during the same move then they sequently placed below the capturing checker:

Before the capture		After the capture

• A stack is controlled by the player who owns the topmost checker (or king).
• A stack moves or captures other checkers or stacks according to the rules of English Checkers applying to the topmost checker (or king).
• When a stack or a single checker captures an opponent's stack, just the topmost checker is taken from that stack and placed below the capturing stack or a checker.  The next checker or a king in the stack (beneath the captured topmost one) is considered to be "released" and can be used by its owner on the next move:

Before the capture		After the capture The topmost red checker was taken from a stack.  The orange checker beneath it was released.

• An ordinary checker at the top of a stack can be promoted to a king exactly the same way as in English Checkers.

• Unofficial Lasca homepage.
• A scientific study on Lasca (in German).
• Lasca - The Great Military Game (Official Rules by Emanuel Lasker).