Hop marbles across the star — chain jumps to victory!
Choose difficulty:
Chinese Checkers is a free online version of the classic strategy board game played on a star-shaped board. Despite its name, Chinese Checkers was invented in Germany in 1892 as "Stern-Halma" (Star Halma) and has no historical connection to China. Race your 10 marbles from your starting triangle to the opposite triangle before the AI does.
Each player starts with 10 marbles in their home triangle. On your turn, you can either slide one marble to an adjacent empty hole, or hop over an adjacent marble (yours or the opponent's) to the empty hole beyond it. The exciting part: after a hop, if another hop is available, you can chain them together for multiple jumps in a single turn! Build "bridges" of pieces to create long chain-hop highways across the board. The first player to move all 10 marbles into the opposite triangle wins.
When you jump over an adjacent piece to an empty hole beyond it, you can continue jumping in any direction as long as there is an adjacent piece with an empty hole on the other side. Chain hops can span the entire board in a single turn, making them the most exciting and strategic part of Chinese Checkers. After each hop, valid next hops are highlighted — click one to continue, or click "End Turn" to stop.
Traditional Chinese Checkers supports 2, 3, 4, or 6 players using different triangles of the star board. This online version features a 2-player game against AI with three difficulty levels: Easy (random moves), Medium (prefers forward moves and hops), and Hard (builds bridges, seeks chain hops, and blocks opponents).
Key strategies include: building "bridges" — lines of pieces that allow long chain hops across the board; keeping pieces in the center corridor rather than the edges; avoiding leaving isolated pieces behind; and planning your moves to create hopping lanes for future turns. The best players think several moves ahead and set up chain reactions.
If you enjoyed this, try these: Checkers · Mancala · Nine Men's Morris
Last updated: April 2026 · whatifs.fun — Free interactive games, experiments & simulations