Classic Chinese Checkers

Chinese checkers is a board game that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The game is a modern and simplified variation of Halma.

The objective is to be first to race one's pieces across the hexagram-shaped game board into "home" - the corner of the star opposite one's starting corner - using single-step moves or moves which jump over other pieces.Others keep playing to establish 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and last place finishers. The game involves some strategy but is popular even among young children.

Despite the name "Chinese Checkers", the game is not a variation of checkers, nor did it originate in China or any part of Asia. The game was invented in Germany in 1892 under the name "Stern-Halma", as a variation of the older American game Halma. The "Stern" (German for star) refers to the board's star shape (in contrast to the square board used in Halma). The name "Chinese Checkers" originated in the United States as a marketing scheme by Bill and Jack Pressman in 1928. The Pressman company's game was originally called "Hop Ching Checkers."