Chinese Checkers is a race game for two, three, four or six players on a star-shaped board with 121 holes. Each player starts with ten marbles in one point of the star and tries to move all of them into the point directly opposite. On a turn you move one marble, either one step to a neighboring hole or in a chain of hops over other marbles. Nothing is ever captured. The first player to fill their goal point wins. This guide covers the board, the setup for every player count, each rule in detail, and the house rules people argue about.
Overview
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Players | 2, 3, 4 or 6 (or fewer people plus computer players) |
| Typical time | 20 to 40 minutes |
| Board | A six-pointed star of 121 holes |
| Pieces | 10 marbles per player (6 in the quick game) |
| Luck | None: there are no dice or cards |
| Other names | Sternhalma, Star Halma, Chinese Chequers |
Despite the name, the game is neither Chinese nor a form of checkers. It was invented in Germany in 1892 as Stern-Halma, “star Halma”, a star-shaped version of Halma, an American game from the 1880s played on a square board. In the late 1920s it was sold in the United States as Chinese Checkers, a name chosen for marketing, and that name stuck in English.
The board
The board is a six-pointed star. Its center is a six-sided area of 61 holes, and each of the six triangular points has 10 holes arranged in rows of 1, 2, 3 and 4. Every hole has up to six neighbors, and marbles move along the six lines through each hole.
Setting up
Each player takes ten marbles of one color and fills one point of the star with them. Your goal is always the point directly across the board from your start. Which points are used depends on the number of players.
Two players
Use two opposite points. Each player’s goal is the other player’s start, so you have to make room for each other as the game goes on. On this site the first player starts at the bottom and races to the top.
Three players
Use every other point, so no two starting points are next to each other. The three goal points start empty, which makes the three-player game a pure race. On this site the players start at the bottom, the upper left and the upper right.
Four players
Use two pairs of opposite points and leave the last pair empty. Each player again races into an opponent’s starting point. On this site the four players start at the bottom, lower left, top and upper right, and the upper left and lower right points stay empty.
Six players
Every point is filled. The center starts empty and gets crowded quickly, so hop chains are common and so are traffic jams.
Why there is no five-player game
With five players, one player’s goal would be an empty point while everyone else must wait for an opponent to leave theirs. That is not a fair race, so the usual rule sets, and this site, offer only 2, 3, 4 or 6 players.
Objective
Be the first player to fill your goal point, the point directly opposite your start, with your marbles. The other players’ marbles never leave the board, so there are no captures to count and no points to score. It is purely a race.
How a turn works
Decide who goes first; the youngest player, the winner of the last game or a coin toss all work. Play then passes to the left, which is clockwise around the star. On your turn you must move exactly one of your own marbles, using one of the two kinds of move described below: a single step, or one or more hops. Then the turn passes on. You can’t skip a turn while you have a legal move.
The rules in detail
Single steps
A step moves a marble into any empty hole right next to it, in any of the six directions. Forward, sideways and backward are all allowed. A step is a whole turn: after stepping, your turn is over.
Hops
A hop jumps over one marble that is directly next to you and lands in the empty hole directly behind it, in a straight line. The marble you hop over can be any color, your own or an opponent’s. You can’t hop over an empty hole, over two marbles in a row, or into an occupied hole.
Chain hops
After a hop, if the marble can hop again from where it landed, it may do so, and again after that, as long as you like. Each hop can go in a different direction. You may stop after any hop; continuing is never required. A chain can carry a single marble most of the way across the board in one turn.
No step after a hop
A turn is either a single step or a series of hops, never both. Once you have hopped, you can’t finish the turn with a step, even if it would put you in a perfect spot.
No captures
Hopped marbles stay exactly where they are. Nothing is removed from the board, and every player keeps all ten marbles until the end.
Marbles may go anywhere
Marbles may pass through and stop in any hole, including the center and the points of other players or empty points. A point that nobody uses is just extra board.
Passing when stuck
If none of your marbles can move, you pass and the next player moves. This is very rare. On this site the pass happens automatically.
The anti-blocking rule
A player could try to stop an opponent by leaving a marble in that opponent’s goal forever. To prevent this, this site uses an anti-blocking rule: you win as soon as every hole of your goal point is filled and at least one of them holds your own marble. An opponent’s marble sitting in your goal counts as filled, so fill all the other holes with your marbles and you win. This also applies at once if an opponent moves a marble into the last open hole of your goal on their own turn.
Winning, ranking and draws
The game ends the moment one player’s goal is filled, and that player wins. In a game with three or more players, this site then ranks everyone else by how close they came: first by the number of marbles already in their goal, then by how far their remaining marbles still have to travel.
The classic game has no draw rule. So that every game ends, this site adds two safety rules: if nobody can move in a full round, the game is a draw, and if nobody has finished after 200 turns each, the game is also a draw. Normal games end long before either.
Variants and house rules
Chinese Checkers is played many ways at home. Here is how this site handles the common ones.
| Variant or house rule | What changes | On this site |
|---|---|---|
| Standard “hop across” | Ten marbles each, race to the opposite point | Used |
| Quick game | Six marbles each on the three tip rows; the goal is the three tip rows opposite | Available as “6 marbles” in the setup |
| Long hops | A marble may hop a single marble farther down the line, landing the same distance beyond it, if every hole in between is empty | Not used |
| No resting in other points | A move may not end in a point that is neither your start nor your goal | Not used: stop anywhere |
| Locked goal | A marble that reaches its goal may not leave it again | Not used |
| Play on for places | After the first winner, the others keep going for second, third and so on | Not used: the game ends at the first winner and the rest are ranked by progress |
| Teams | Partners in opposite or alternating points win together | Not used |
Common mistakes and disputes
- Hopping over two marbles at once. A single hop clears exactly one marble. To pass two marbles in a row you need an empty hole between them.
- Stepping after a hop. It is tempting to finish a chain with one short step. It isn’t allowed.
- Forgetting your own marbles. Your own marbles are just as good to hop over as anyone else’s, and they are the ones you can arrange on purpose.
- Expecting captures. Coming from checkers, some players remove a hopped marble. In Chinese Checkers nothing is ever removed.
- Moving two marbles in one turn. A chain of hops is made by one marble. Every other marble stays put.
- Parking in an opponent’s goal to block them. Under the anti-blocking rule this doesn’t work. It just leaves your own marble far from home.
- Arguing about the order. Play goes to the left, clockwise around the star, for every number of players.
Glossary
- Point: one of the six triangles of the star, also called a corner or a home.
- Start: the point where your marbles begin.
- Goal: the point directly opposite your start, where all your marbles must end up.
- Step: a move to a neighboring empty hole.
- Hop: a jump over one neighboring marble into the empty hole right behind it.
- Chain hop: several hops by the same marble in one turn.
- Ladder: a line of marbles with single-hole gaps that lets a marble hop several times in a row.
- Straggler: a marble left far behind the rest, usually in the start point.
- Spoiling: leaving a marble in someone’s goal to block them, which the anti-blocking rule defeats.
Play it now
Ready to try the rules? Start a game of Chinese Checkers on this device with friends or against the computer. Tap any marble to see every hole it can reach, including the end of each hop chain. When you know the moves, the beginner Chinese Checkers tutorial shows how to build ladders and avoid stragglers.
