Playing games with my son is always a bit of a Calvinball enterprise. However, when he insisted this weekend on playing checkers, the result was actually kind of interesting. (The following, like its predecessor the 94-penny pie, is edited for coherence.)
The game begins like an ordinary game of checkers. However, once a player has captured any of her opponent’s men, she may use her turn to place a captured man on any light square of the row nearest her (assuming that square is presently empty). A man captured on a light square is removed from the game permanently. The interesting thing about this variant is that you wind up playing two overlapping and interlaced games of checkers, playing both colors at once. It becomes much more challenging simply because the state of play is much more difficult to evaluate.