Chinese Checkers strategy
Ten pegs, a six pointed star and one long hop across the middle.
Chinese Checkers looks like a race and plays like an engineering problem. Every peg you move can become a stepping stone for the pegs behind it, and the player who builds the better chain of stepping stones crosses the board in half the moves. Here is how to build one, and how to avoid the three mistakes that lose games to people who have never thought about the game at all.
Build a ladder, then climb it
A peg jumps over any single adjacent peg, yours or your opponent's, into the empty hole directly beyond. Chains of those jumps count as one move. So a line of pegs spaced one hole apart is a staircase, and a peg at the bottom of it can travel the length of the board in a single turn.
That is the whole game. Do not move pegs toward the goal one step at a time. Move them into positions where the next peg can leap over them, and keep doing it until you have a chain that runs from your home triangle to the other side.
Use the middle
The centre of the star is where every chain wants to be, because jumps through the middle serve the most pegs. It is also the one part of the board both players compete for, so getting there first is worth a move or two of preparation.
Your opponent's pegs are jumpable too. A crowded centre is good for whoever has the longer chain prepared, which is usually the player who built one deliberately.
The three ways people lose
- Leaving a straggler. One peg still sitting at home when the other nine have arrived costs more moves than the whole opening gained.
- Advancing the front peg every turn. It gets there first and helps nobody. Move the back pegs into the ladder instead.
- Filling the goal triangle from the front. The far corner is the hardest hole to reach, so fill the deepest holes first or you will spend your last five turns shuffling.
A simple plan that works
- Open by pushing pegs out of the two back corners, not the front tip.
- Aim every move at making a jump available for another peg.
- Cross the centre with chains rather than steps.
- Fill the goal triangle back to front.
Play a game
Reading about a game is practice for playing it and nothing more. The board is open, it is free, and nothing needs installing.
Common questions
- What is the best opening move in Chinese Checkers?
- Any move that starts a ladder toward the centre. Advancing a peg from the back of your triangle is usually better than moving the front peg, because it keeps the chain behind it connected.
- Can you jump over your own pegs?
- Yes. A jump goes over any single adjacent peg of either colour into the empty hole directly beyond, and jumps can be chained in one move.
- How many pegs does each player have?
- Ten, on the standard 121 hole star board used here.
More on Chinese Checkers
Jumping and jump chains
How jumps work, why a chain of them counts as one move, and how to set up the long hops that decide games. The rule that makes Chinese Checkers a strategy game.
Finishing the race
Most games are lost in the last ten moves. How to fill your goal triangle back to front, avoid stranded pegs, and finish the race you were winning.
Chinese Checkers is not checkers
Different board, different pieces, no captures and no relation. What Chinese Checkers actually is, where the name came from, and why it is not Chinese.
This site is built around Xiangqi, Chinese chess. If you enjoy Chinese Checkers, the rules of Xiangqi take about five minutes, and there is always somebody to play.