Chinese Checkers is now on VOG

A star of 121 holes, two to six players, chains of jumps and play for places. Classic, long jumps, 15 marbles and pairs; a rating for duels and for places; five bots and a game right in your browser without sign-up.

There is a new game in the club — Chinese Checkers. A star of 121 holes, two to six players, each with a point of the star full of marbles. The goal is to be the first to move all your marbles into the opposite point.

This is the same game Germans call Stern-Halma and the Chinese call 跳棋. It was invented in Germany in the late 19th century and got the name "Chinese" in America. If you have played Ugolki (Corners), the moves will feel familiar, but the star and several opponents at once make it a different game.

How to move

• A marble steps into an adjacent hole in any of six directions.
• Or it jumps over an adjacent marble — yours or anyone else's — into the empty hole behind it. Jumps can be chained as long as you can, changing direction as you go.
• There are no captures: marbles you jump over stay where they are.
• You may jump through other players' points but not stop there. A marble that has reached the goal never leaves it.
• You must clear your own point within 30 moves. Anyone who doesn't, or who moves a marble back home after the deadline, is out.

The table highlights where the selected marble can go — both single steps and the ends of jump chains. Hover over a marker and the whole path is shown as a dashed line.

Two, three, four or six players

With two players the game is a duel: whoever fills the goal first wins. If the second player can also finish on the very next move, it's a draw — this evens out the advantage of moving first.

With three, four or six players the game doesn't end with the first finisher: the rest play on for places until only one is left on the board. Everyone sees the star with their own point at the bottom, and players who have finished or are out are marked in the player list.

Variants

• Classic — 10 marbles each, for two, three, four or six players.
• Long jumps — you may jump over a single marble at any distance, landing symmetrically on the other side. Games are faster and sharper. For two or six players.
• 15 marbles, 2 players — bigger points, longer games.
• Pairs — two against two with four players, or three pairs with six. Partners sit opposite each other; the pair wins when both partners are home.

Rating

A two-player game changes your rating the way chess does. With three or more players the rating is based on places: first place beats everyone else, second beats everyone except the winner, and so on. Pair games are unrated for now.

Bots

In the rooms with bots you can play against Lin, Mei, Tao, Yun and Shen — from beginner to strong player. With them you can fill a table of any size, even six seats with five bots. If you finish or drop out early, the bots play the rest quickly and don't keep you waiting.

Play right now

On the game page there is a "Play right now" card: a game against a bot runs right in your browser, no login and no sign-up. Pick one of four opponent levels and play with two, three or six players.

The full rules are in the Rules section. Finished games are kept in the archive, and the newest ones are shown by the Telescope on the home page.

Come and play!