Chinese Checkers

How to play Chinese Checkers

Chinese Checkers is a race across a star-shaped board. You have 10 blue marbles in the bottom point of the star, and the computer has 10 red ones in the top point. Be the first to move all of yours into the point opposite, where the computer's started.

• Tap one of your marbles, then a hole marked with a dot. The marble goes there, hopping along the way if it has to jump.
• A marble can move one hole in any of the six directions, into an empty hole next to it.
• Or it can jump over a marble next to it, yours or the computer's, into the empty hole straight beyond. After a jump it can keep jumping, in any direction, as many times as it can. A chain of jumps is one move.
• Nothing is captured: jumped marbles stay where they are.
• You can't mix the two: a move is one step, or a chain of jumps.
• You win when the top point is full and at least one marble in it is yours. That way a marble the computer leaves behind can't block you out.
• If 200 moves each go by with no winner, whoever is closer to home wins.

Choose how strong the computer is above the board: Easy, Medium or Hard. Undo takes back your last move and the computer's reply, as many times as you like. Hint suggests a good move.

Tips

• Build ladders: a line of marbles with gaps between them lets the marble at the back jump all the way along.
• Use the computer's marbles to jump over too.
• Don't leave one marble behind. The race is won when the last marble gets home, not the first.
• Fill the far corner of the top point first, so your last marbles have room to get in.

Keyboard

Tab to the board, then use the arrow keys to move between holes: left and right along a row, up and down to the next row. Press Enter or Space to pick up a marble, move to a marked hole and press Enter again. Escape puts the marble back. H shows a hint and Ctrl+Z undoes.