Chinese Checkers

Background

Chinese Checkers owns the oddest name: It wasn't invented in China, and it has nothing to do with Checkers!

Everyone agrees that this game first appeared in the late 1800s and that it first became popular in Sweden. This inventor simply took the Greek game of Halma (meaning jump or leap) and changed its look. Halma is played on a square board, Chinese Checkers is played on a board shaped like a six-pointed star. Halma uses flat pieces moving from square to square, Chinese Checkers uses marbles moving from hole to hole. In both games, the object is to be the first to occupy an enemy camp with your own pieces.

Although the marbles in Chinese Checkers move by jumping or leaping another marble, as in Checkers, this doesn't mean the two games are related. In Checkers, the jump is part of the business of capturing; Checkers is a war game, and the piece jumped is removed from play. In Chinese Checkers, the jump is just one way of getting around the board; Chinese Checkers is a racing game, and the piece jumped stays where it is.

By the way: Chinese Checkers is indeed played in China. In China, they use 10 marbles per player, which is the form also used in the United States, as opposed to the 15 sometimes used in Europe.

Next: How to play Chinese Checkers