Chinese Chequers

Chinese Checkers

A typical pitted-wood gameboard using six differently colored sets of marbles. Another popular format uses colored pegs in holes.
Genre(s)	Board game Abstract strategy game
Players	2–4 or 6
Age range	4+
Setup time	~1 minute
Playing time	10–30 minutes
Random chance	None
Skill(s) required	Strategy, tactics
Synonym(s)	Stern-Halma Star Halma Hop Ching Checkers Tiao-qi ("Jump chess")

Chinese Checkers (US and Canadian spelling) or Chinese chequers (UK spelling) is a strategy board game of German origin (named "Sternhalma") which can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The game is a modern and simplified variation of the American game Halma.

The objective is to be first to race all of one's pieces across the hexagram-shaped board into "home"—the corner of the star opposite one's starting corner—using single-step moves or moves that jump over other pieces. The remaining players continue the game to establish second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and last-place finishers. The rules are simple, so even young children can play.

Despite its name, the game is not a variation of checkers, nor did it originate in China or any part of Asia (whereas the game 象棋 xiangqi, or "Chinese chess", is from China). The game was invented in Germany in 1892 under the name "Stern-Halma" as a variation of the older American game Halma. The "Stern" (German for star) refers to the board's star shape (in contrast to the square board used in Halma).

The name "Chinese Checkers" originated in the United States as a marketing scheme by Bill and Jack Pressman in 1928. The Pressman company's game was originally called "Hop Ching Checkers".

The game was introduced to Chinese-speaking regions mostly by the Japanese.

The aim is to race all one's pieces into the star corner on the opposite side of the board before opponents do the same. The destination corner is called home. Each player has 10 pieces, except in games between two players when 15 are used. (On bigger star boards, 15 or 21 pieces are used.)

In "hop across", the most popular variation, each player starts with their colored pieces on one of the six points or corners of the star and attempts to race them all home into the opposite corner. Players take turns moving a single piece, either by moving one step in any direction to an adjacent empty space, or by jumping in one or any number of available consecutive hops over other single pieces. A player may not combine hopping with a single-step move – a move consists of one or the other. There is no capturing in Chinese Checkers, so hopped pieces remain active and in play. Turns proceed clockwise around the board.