Chinese Checkers — Play Free Online
Play Chinese Checkers right in your browser — free, with no sign-up and no download. Move and hop your 10 red marbles across the six-point star to the opposite point before the computer fills its own. Prefer a human opponent? You can also play 2-player Chinese Checkers on the same device.
How to Play Chinese Checkers
The aim is simple: be the first to move all of your marbles from your home point of the star into the opposite point. On each turn you make one of two kinds of move:
- Step: move one marble to any adjacent empty hole (six directions).
- Hop: jump a marble over a single adjacent marble — yours or your opponent's — into the empty hole directly beyond it. If another hop is available from the landing hole, you may chain hops into one long move.
There are no captures in Chinese Checkers — marbles you hop over stay exactly where they are. This makes the game about building chains of marbles to "ladder" across the board quickly. Tap one of your marbles and the holes you can reach light up green; tap a green hole to move there. For the full rules, see our how to play Chinese Checkers guide.
The Chinese Checkers Board
Chinese Checkers is played on a six-pointed star (hexagram) with 121 holes. In a two-player game you use the two opposite points; each holds 10 marbles. The other four points stay empty and act as neutral territory you can hop through. The star shape is what makes the game so different from the square checker board — movement runs in six directions, not four.
Is Chinese Checkers the Same as Checkers?
No — despite sharing the word "checkers," they are unrelated games. Chinese Checkers descends from the game Halma and is about racing marbles to the far side with no captures. Standard checkers (also called draughts) is played on an 8×8 board and is all about capturing your opponent's pieces. If you came here for the classic capturing game, head to our checkers game instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you play Chinese Checkers?
Move all 10 of your marbles to the opposite point of the star. Each turn, step a marble to an adjacent hole or hop over adjacent marbles (chaining hops if possible). No captures. First to fill the far point wins.
Is Chinese Checkers the same as checkers?
No — different game, star-shaped board, no captures. It comes from Halma, not from checkers/draughts.
How many marbles does each player have?
10 per player in a two-player game (one point of the star each).
Can I play with a friend?
Yes — use 2-player Chinese Checkers for pass-and-play on one device.
