How to Use Advanced Strategies in Chinese Checkers

Chinese checkers weren't invented in China but are derived from a German game called Halma. The rules of the game are simple, but mastering the game can take many years. Advanced players know not only how to advance their own pegs but how to prevent their opponents from advancing, as explained in the following steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Chinese checkers game

The Basic Game

1. Play with two, three or five other players, with each playing against one opponent on the opposite side of the board. You can play with five players if one player is a beginner or a child who is given the advantage of having no opponent and instead simply moves her pegs to the other side of the board.
2. Win the game by advancing your 10 pegs (or marbles) from your corner (star point) through the hexagonal center of the board and into your opponent's corner. If your opponent prevents you from moving all 10 pegs into his corner by leaving a peg there, you still win the game.
3. Advance your pegs by moving from one empty hole to the next or hop over one peg into the hole just beyond it. You may move in any direction and hop over any other peg, even your own.
4. Hop over as many pegs as you want in one turn, but never hop over more than one peg at a time. Pegs are not removed from the board.
5. Play can continue until all but one player has achieved the object of the game.

Advanced Strategies

6. Make use of a little known rule that allows you to hop over a peg that isn't adjacent to yours. For example, if a peg is two holes away from yours and three holes beyond it are empty, you can hop over the two empty holes before the peg and the two beyond the peg and occupy the third hole.
7. Keep your own pegs bunched together to prevent your opponent from hopping more than one peg in a single turn.
8. Win when playing multiple positions by building a "bridge" between the two corners you are playing and then advancing your pegs quickly through multiple jumps. Try to keep your opponent from doing the same with his pegs.
9. Block an opponent playing more than one position by moving your pegs into your opponent's corner to keep her from advancing all 10 pegs into the corner.
10. Play with a partner. Aid one another in advancing pegs in an attempt to win against your opponent and his partner.

Tips & Warnings

• When playing with 1 or 2 other players, each player can "play" herself by trying to exchange pegs with those of the opposite corner. In this version of the game, players race to see which can achieve this exchange first.