Mak-hot

Mak-hot (หมาก ฮอส), also transcribed as Makhos, is known outside of Thailand as Thai Checkers or Thai Draughts. It is the most popular boardgame in Thailand besides Mak-ruk (Thai Chess). The game can be played online on many web sites; e.g. BrainKing, Makhos, and ThaiBG. There are many computer programs and even books about the game in Thailand.

Rules

The board is an 8×8 grid, with alternating dark and light squares. The left down square field should be dark.

Each player starts with 8 pieces on the two rows closest to their own side, as shown in the diagram above.

It appears that there is no fixed rule which color starts. The Thai web site makhos.com lets White (lighter color) move first, while other sites have Black (darker color) move first. Players then alternate moves.

The men move diagonally forward to the next square, when nothing can be captured.

When a man reaches the furthest row from the player who controls that piece, it is promoted or "crowned". It is then called hot (ฮอส ; sometimes transcribed hos)

Crowned pieces can move freely multiple steps in any diagonal direction exactly like a Bishop in chess.

Men capture opponents pieces that are diagonally in front and adjacent of them by moving two consecutive steps in the same direction, jumping over the opponent's piece on the first step. Multiple opposing pieces may be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece. These jumps do not need to be in the same direction but may zigzag changing diagonal direction. A 180° turn is also permitted.

Crowned pieces may jump over and hence capture an opponent piece some distance away and may continue to capture that way, but must stop on the square directly behind each piece captured. Removal of the captured piece is immediate and occurs during the capture, as in Turkish Checkers.

Captures are mandatory. Any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.

A player wins the game when the opponent cannot make a move. In most cases, this is because all of the opponent's pieces have been captured, but it could also be because all of his pieces are blocked in.

External Links

General descriptions

• Thai Checkers on BoardGameGeek
• Thai Checkers on mindsports.nl (several major mistakes and omissions)
• A blog devoted to Makhos

Gaming sites

• Thai Checkers on PlayOK (multiplayer).
• Thai Checkers on BrainKing.
• Thai Checkers on Makhos
• Thai Checkers on ThaiBG