Board games BOARD GAMES

Chinese Checkers

Chinese checkers is a game I remember for my attempts to actually finish a game. It always took so long that I had pretty much given up by the time I was only half way through it.

You play it on a star-shaped board, a 6 pointed star, and the object of the game is to get all of your 10 pieces over to the opposite point of the star. Moving across the board something like you do in draughts or regular “checkers”. Each player is a different colour and you can have from 2 - 6 players.

A strange but true fact is that this game is in no way Chinese. In the same way that Pineapples are not from Hawaii, it was all a marketing ploy. The game was originally produced in Germany under the name “Stern-Halma” in 1982! (“Stern” is German for “Star” ) the name Chinese Checkers was introduced by Bill and Jack Pressman in 1928 as a marketing scheme. Most probably to account for the checkers like aspect but it’s strange merging of the 6 star board.

As a child I did think that perhaps every country played checkers slightly differently, and that Mexican Checkers, or Chilean Checkers might be more fun than English Checkers (Or as it is obscurely named... “Draughts”)


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Do You Remember Chinese Checkers?

Do You Remember Chinese Checkers?