Chinese Checkers
Hop your marbles across the star into the far corner.
How to play Chinese Checkers
Chinese Checkers is played on a six-pointed star with 121 holes. Each player starts with 10 marbles in one point of the star. Despite the name, the game comes from Germany, where it is called Sternhalma. It is a simpler cousin of Halma.
Goal
Be the first to move all your marbles into the point of the star directly opposite your start. You always play the red marbles at the bottom.
Players
Choose 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. With 2 players the camps face each other. With 3 players every second point is used, so each goal is empty at the start. With 4 or 6 players the opposite camps belong to other players, and you must wait for them to move out.
Turn by turn
- Tap one of your marbles. The holes it can reach light up.
- Step: move to any of the six neighbouring holes if it is empty.
- Hop: jump over one neighbouring marble (any colour) in a straight line, into the empty hole right behind it. Nothing is captured.
- Chain hops: after a hop you may keep hopping from the new hole, in any direction, as many times as you can. Dashed rings show holes that need more than one hop; hover a ring to see the route. The marble then travels there hop by hop.
- A step and hops cannot be mixed in one turn, and you cannot pass while you have a move.
House rules used here
- You may hop through the other points of the star, but you cannot end your move in a point that is neither your start nor your goal.
- Once a marble reaches its goal point, it must stay inside it.
- If an opponent leaves marbles in your goal, you still win when the goal is full and holds at least one of your marbles.
End of the game
The first player to fill their goal point wins. In "2 Players" mode everyone shares one device and takes turns.
Strategy tips
- Build ladders. Leave marbles one gap apart in a line so your back marbles can chain hop far forward on later turns.
- Don't leave stragglers. A single marble left at home costs many turns at the end. Bring your last marbles along with the group.
- Use other players' marbles. Any marble can be hopped over. Look for long chains through the crowd in the middle.
- Fill the goal from the tip. Move your first marbles deep into the point of the goal so the later ones have room to land.
- Block with care. Standing in an opponent's path can slow them down, but every turn you spend blocking is a turn you are not moving home.
Chinese Checkers FAQ
Is Chinese Checkers really from China?
No. It was invented in Germany in 1892 as Stern-Halma, a star-shaped version of Halma. The name Chinese Checkers came from an American marketing campaign in the 1920s.
Can I jump over my own marbles?
Yes. You can hop over any marble, yours or an opponent's. Hopped marbles stay on the board — nothing is captured.
How many players can play?
Here you can play with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. You are red and the computer plays the other colours, or switch to 2 Players mode to share one device.
How strong is the computer?
Easy plays loose moves, Medium always takes good forward moves, and Hard also plans its next hop chain to build long jumps.
