Sit across from your opponent

The board and checkers should be in between you and your opponent. Before you set up the board, you should determine who goes first. You can do this based on who won the last game, a coin toss, or by any other method. The person who will go first will take the black checkers and the other will take the red.Though some people believe that the player with the red checkers should go first, traditionally, the player with the black checkers always goes first.