

#STRATEGIES FOR CHINESE CHECKERS HOW TO#
You can always fight with yourself, but where’s the fun in that? How to Play Chinese Checkers – Game Strategies Plus, if you only have one person, you’ll miss out on the best part – fighting with other players after someone else has made a wrong move. You will need two, three, four, or six people in order to play this game the way it was meant to be played. Since the objective of the game is to get all of your marbles to the other side of the board, it really wouldn’t be that much fun if you only had one person. What you should remember, however, is that you need to have an appropriate number of players in order for the game to work. The goal of each person in the game will be to get all of his or her marbles into the opposite corner, otherwise known as ‘home,’ before anyone else does. It’s up to you what types of zany marbles are used in your run-throughs of this game.Īfter each player has chosen a color (or other distinctive characteristic of a set of marbles that may apply here), you will all put your set of marbles into a corner of the board. Perhaps you would like them to be separated by what type of insect can be seen on the inside, or which type of cute fuzzy animal is depicted on the tiny little photo trapped inside the marble. Usually, they are separated by color, but if you so choose, you can replace the sets of marbles with your own marbles. The board comes with six sets of 10 marbles. All you really need is the game board and the marbles that come with it. It is actually quite easy to set up this game. How to Play Chinese Checkers – Game Setup In fact, had they had their way, this game would now be known as “Hop Ching Checkers.” And after all that, the Chinese were among the last to actually play their namesake game when the Japanese introduced it to them. Bill and Jack Pressman came up with this name as part of their marketing plan for the game in 1928. The name “Chinese Checkers” came to be associated with this game in the United States, another country that is not China. Of course, as is the case in so many situations, marketing ended up playing a role in how this game is known. In 1892, it was created and given the name “Stern-Halma.” There was already an American game that went by the name of Halma that employed a square shaped board, and “Stern” is German for “star,” which not so coincidentally is the shape of the board used in this game. It was actually invented in Germany of all places. It did not originate in China or any other area on the Asian continent, for that matter. There is a chance that you may not have noticed this, but that’s a problem to be sorted out between you and your optometrist and has nothing to do with understanding this game.Īnother fun fact: Chinese checkers is not Chinese. If you’ve ever played both games, you’ve probably noticed that even though there are similarities between the two, the game boards and pieces are completely different. How to Play Chinese Checkers – History and Background of the Gameįun fact: Chinese checkers is not checkers. You may think that you know everything there is to know about this fantastical game, but there is so much more to Chinese checkers than meets the eye. Or, depending on how the game goes, you might actually end up losing even more marbles. If you’ve ever felt like you’ve lost your marbles, chances are you may actually be able to find them in a game of Chinese checkers.
