How to play Chinese Checkers

The goal

Moving

• On your turn, move one marble: either one step into an empty hole next to it, or a hop.
• A hop jumps over one marble right next to it (anyone’s, yours included) into the empty hole just beyond. Nothing is captured.
• After a hop you can keep hopping, in any direction, as long as each hop lands in an empty hole. A step ends the move.
• You can hop through any corner, but you can only finish a move in the middle, your home corner or your target corner.

Playing here

• Tap one of your marbles: every hole it can reach lights up, including the end of each hop chain. Tap one to move there; the marble hops along the way.
• Dots mark the holes the last move passed through, so you can follow each computer’s hops.
• Undo takes back your last move and the computers’ replies. Resign ends the game as a loss.

Winning

• The first player to fill their target corner wins.
• Blocking rule: from your 30th move on, if every hole of your target is filled and at least one of the marbles there is yours, you win. An opponent can’t stop you by leaving marbles behind.
• If you have no move at all, you pass. A game with no winner after 200 moves each is a draw.

Opponents and levels

• Play 1 computer (opposite corners), 2 (alternate corners) or 5 (every corner filled). Choose under New game.
• Easy misses long hop chains and makes slips. Normal plans two moves ahead. Hard builds ladders and, one on one, weighs your best replies.
• Your best winning time is kept for each level.

Questions

Strategy guides