What are the rules for a Chinese checkers move?

Choose one of the current side's marbles. Either move to one adjacent empty hole or jump straight over an adjacent occupied hole into the empty hole immediately beyond it. A jump can continue over marbles of either side and may stop after any legal landing. This implementation rejects revisiting any hole within one chain, including the start. Jumped marbles remain on the board, so every move preserves all twenty marbles. A step cannot be combined with another step or hop.

Can marbles enter any triangle, and can they leave the target?

All 121 board holes are usable. Side A starts at the bottom and targets the top ten-hole triangle; B starts at the top and targets the bottom. Once a marble enters its own target, later landings must stay in that triangle, including later hops in the same turn. You win when all ten of your marbles occupy your target holes.

How do I preview and finish a multi-hop move?

Select a marble on the board or with the coordinate selector. Green rings mark legal next landings. Select a landing to extend the preview, use Back one landing or Cancel preview to revise it, and press End jump at any legal endpoint. The committed board and turn do not change until you finish. An adjacent move uses Commit step instead.

When is a game drawn?

This tool declares a draw when the exact board and side to move occur for a third time, or after 500 committed plies. One ply is one player's complete move, even if it has several hops. These are displayed conventions for this implementation. A move that puts all ten marbles in target wins before either draw check. Undo reconstructs the earlier board, turn and repetition counts from the full history.

How strong is the computer, and how does undo work?

The computer plays B and is a simple beginner opponent. It enumerates legal step and reachable hop endpoints, favors entering the target and moving forward, and chooses deterministically. Its worker is bounded to 20000 nodes and two seconds. Undo during a pending reply cancels that reply and removes your last move; after a reply, undo removes both your move and the reply. If search is unavailable, cancelled or fails, retry it or continue the same game locally.

Can I play with a keyboard or on a small screen?

Every hole has its row, column and axial coordinates in its accessible label. Arrow keys move board focus, Home and End move within a row, and Enter or Space selects a hole. The marble and legal-landing selectors provide the same controls without navigating every hole. Each board target is 44 pixels, and the board scrolls inside its panel on smaller screens. A and B labels distinguish marbles as well as color.

What is saved or exported?

The local save contains the mode, board, turn, result and complete committed move history. Resuming replays and validates every move, then marks the game as restored practice. Saves never automatically resume on load. Copy move history or Download move history includes every committed step and hop landing, plus the result and convention. If local saving or clipboard access fails, the current game and selectable summary remain available in the tab.

Chinese Checkers Game

Race ten marbles across an original 121-hole star board. Play both sides locally or take side A against a deterministic beginner computer. Preview a step or a chain of hops, stop at any legal hop endpoint, and commit the whole path as one turn. Coordinate selectors and keyboard controls accompany the board, while the complete move history, goal counts and visible draw convention keep each result understandable.

Two sides · ten marbles each

Next game mode

A target: 0/10B target: 0/100/500 plies

A, teal, starts at the bottom and races to the top. B, orange, starts at the top and races to the bottom. Letters distinguish sides as well as color. One ply is one player's committed move.

Choose local play or the beginner computer, then start a game. Side A moves first.

121-hole star · no captures

The board scrolls within this panel on small screens. Arrow keys move focus, Home and End move within a row, and Enter or Space selects a hole. The coordinate selectors provide the same move controls.

Visible game convention

Use any board hole. Take one adjacent step or a chain of hops over occupied neighbors, with no captures and no hole revisited during one chain. Stop at any legal hop endpoint. Once a marble enters its target triangle, every subsequent landing stays there. Ten own marbles in target wins. The same board and side to move three times, or 500 committed plies, is a draw.

The deterministic beginner computer examines legal step and hop endpoints, then favors entering its target and forward progress. Search is bounded to 20000 nodes and two seconds. It is a simple practice opponent. Local saves use gb:chinesecheckers; complete history is replayed and validated before resuming as practice.

Accuracy. One adjacent empty-hole step or any legal chain of jumps over adjacent occupied holes to empty holes beyond; jumped marbles are never captured. All board holes are usable; goal marbles stay inside their target triangle. Ten own marbles in target wins. Threefold repetition or500plies is a displayed draw convention, not a universal rule.

Common questions

What are the rules for a Chinese checkers move?: Choose one of the current side's marbles. Either move to one adjacent empty hole or jump straight over an adjacent occupied hole into the empty hole immediately beyond it. A jump can continue over marbles of either side and may stop after any legal landing. This implementation rejects revisiting any hole within one chain, including the start. Jumped marbles remain on the board, so every move preserves all twenty marbles. A step cannot be combined with another step or hop.
Can marbles enter any triangle, and can they leave the target?: All 121 board holes are usable. Side A starts at the bottom and targets the top ten-hole triangle; B starts at the top and targets the bottom. Once a marble enters its own target, later landings must stay in that triangle, including later hops in the same turn. You win when all ten of your marbles occupy your target holes.
How do I preview and finish a multi-hop move?: Select a marble on the board or with the coordinate selector. Green rings mark legal next landings. Select a landing to extend the preview, use Back one landing or Cancel preview to revise it, and press End jump at any legal endpoint. The committed board and turn do not change until you finish. An adjacent move uses Commit step instead.
When is a game drawn?: This tool declares a draw when the exact board and side to move occur for a third time, or after 500 committed plies. One ply is one player's complete move, even if it has several hops. These are displayed conventions for this implementation. A move that puts all ten marbles in target wins before either draw check. Undo reconstructs the earlier board, turn and repetition counts from the full history.
How strong is the computer, and how does undo work?: The computer plays B and is a simple beginner opponent. It enumerates legal step and reachable hop endpoints, favors entering the target and moving forward, and chooses deterministically. Its worker is bounded to 20000 nodes and two seconds. Undo during a pending reply cancels that reply and removes your last move; after a reply, undo removes both your move and the reply. If search is unavailable, cancelled or fails, retry it or continue the same game locally.
Can I play with a keyboard or on a small screen?: Every hole has its row, column and axial coordinates in its accessible label. Arrow keys move board focus, Home and End move within a row, and Enter or Space selects a hole. The marble and legal-landing selectors provide the same controls without navigating every hole. Each board target is 44 pixels, and the board scrolls inside its panel on smaller screens. A and B labels distinguish marbles as well as color.
What is saved or exported?: The local save contains the mode, board, turn, result and complete committed move history. Resuming replays and validates every move, then marks the game as restored practice. Saves never automatically resume on load. Copy move history or Download move history includes every committed step and hop landing, plus the result and convention. If local saving or clipboard access fails, the current game and selectable summary remain available in the tab.

One adjacent empty-hole step or any legal chain of jumps over adjacent occupied holes to empty holes beyond; jumped marbles are never captured. All board holes are usable; goal marbles stay inside their target triangle. Ten own marbles in target wins. Threefold repetition or500plies is a displayed draw convention, not a universal rule.