Chinese Checkers

What is Chinese Checkers?

Despite the name, Chinese checkers is neither Chinese nor a kind of checkers. It began in Germany in 1892 as Stern-Halma, a star-shaped version of Halma, the American jumping game of the 1880s ("halma" is Greek for a jump). In 1928 the Pressman brothers sold it in the United States as Hop Ching Checkers and then as Chinese Checkers, and that name stuck wherever English is spoken. Germans still call it Sternhalma, or simply Halma.

The board is a six-pointed star of 121 holes: a hexagon of 61 in the middle and a point of ten on each of its sides. Here you play the gold marbles against the computer at three strengths, or three at the table against two computers, and every day brings a Daily game that is the same for everyone.

How to play

• The goal. Your ten marbles start in the point nearest you. Fill the point opposite before the computer fills yours.
• Picking a move. Tap one of your marbles and the holes it can reach light up. Tap one of them and the marble goes there, hop by hop.
• Steps. A step moves a marble into an empty hole next to it, in any of six directions.
• Hops. A hop jumps over one marble next to yours, your own or the computer's, onto the empty hole straight beyond it. Nothing is ever captured.
• Chains. After a hop you may hop again, in any direction, as often as the board allows, and stop whenever you like. A step and a hop never go in the same move.
• The other points. A marble may hop through the empty points on either side, but it only comes to rest in the middle, in your own point or in the point you are racing to.
• Arrived is arrived. Once a marble reaches the far point it stays inside it, though it may still move around within the point.
• Winning. The first to fill the point opposite wins. A marble the computer leaves sitting in your target counts for you, so nobody can block a point by staying in it.
• The move limit. If nobody has won after 150 moves each, the game stops and the side with more marbles in its far point wins.
• Score. A win scores 100 plus two points for every move under 60. A loss scores five for each of your marbles in the far point.

Strategy tips

1. Build ladders. A line of marbles with a gap after each one is a staircase: one marble can hop the whole way up it in a single move. A quiet move to set one up is often worth it.
2. Bring the back marbles along. The marble left at the back is the one that costs you the game: with nothing to hop over, it crawls one hole at a time. Move your rear marbles forward with the group.
3. Borrow the computer's marbles. Hops work over any colour, and in the middle of the board the computer's marbles make some of the longest ladders.
4. Leave no ladders behind. A gap you open in the middle can be the computer's next long chain. Look at what your move leaves for the other side.
5. Fill from the tip. Send your first marbles deep into the far point, so the later ones still have room to land.

FAQ

Is Chinese Checkers free to play?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.

Is Chinese checkers really Chinese?

No. It was invented in Germany in 1892 as Stern-Halma, and the Chinese name was a marketing idea when it reached the United States in 1928. It is a cousin of Halma, not of checkers: nothing is ever captured.

Can I stop a marble in one of the empty points?

No. A marble may hop through the points on either side, but it only comes to rest in the middle of the board, in your own point or in the point you are racing to. That keeps the race in the middle, where the hopping is.

What if the computer leaves marbles in my target point?

They count for you. You win as soon as every hole of the far point is filled and at least one of the marbles there is yours, so nobody can block you by keeping marbles at home.

Can a game go on forever?

No. After 150 moves each the game stops, and the side with more marbles in its far point wins; level is a draw. In practice a game takes about 35 to 50 moves each.

What is the Daily game?

Every day everyone plays the same game against the medium computer: it answers the same moves the same way, so scores compare directly on the leaderboard.

How does the three-player game work?

You play gold from the bottom point, and two computers start from the points on either side of the top one, every other point round the star, so each of you races into an empty point. They move in turn after you, and the first to fill its far point wins.