What is Team Chinese Checkers?
In team play, four or six players form teams of two. Partners sit in opposite points of the star, so each one's goal is the other's starting point: the two armies have to pass through each other on the way, and each partner fills the triangle the other has just left. Each player still moves only their own pieces, one piece per turn, with the usual steps and chains of hops.
In the standard game the first player to fill the opposite point wins and the game is over. Here, a player who fills their point has finished: they make no more moves, and their turns are skipped. The game goes on until both members of one team have finished, and that team wins together.
Team play rewards cooperation. Partners can leave pieces where the other can hop over them, clear their own starting point quickly so the partner can move in, and block the opposing teams' lines. A player far ahead is worth nothing until their partner arrives too, so a strong player often spends moves building a path for the slower one.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Chinese Checkers | Team Chinese Checkers |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Standard Chinese Checkers2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, each playing alone. | Team Chinese Checkers4 players in two teams, or 6 players in three teams. |
| Partners | Standard Chinese CheckersNone. | Team Chinese CheckersPartners sit in opposite points of the star, so each player's goal is their partner's starting point. |
| Your own goal | Standard Chinese CheckersFill the opposite point with your 10 pieces. | Team Chinese CheckersThe same; each player moves only their own pieces. |
| After filling your point | Standard Chinese CheckersYou win and the game ends. | Team Chinese CheckersYou have finished: you make no more moves and your turns are skipped while the others play on. |
| Who wins | Standard Chinese CheckersThe first player to fill their point. | Team Chinese CheckersThe first team whose partners have both filled their points. |
History
Playing in partnerships is as old as the six-player game. Descriptions of the rules give two ways to play with six: all against all, or three teams of two, with teammates usually sitting at opposite points of the star, each controlling their own set of pieces, and the first team to bring both sets home winning. The four-player game is the six-player game with two opposite points left empty, so it divides into two teams of two in the same way.
Chinese Checkers was first published in Germany in 1892 as Stern-Halma, a version of Halma for a star-shaped board, and its star with six points has made it a favourite family and party game for larger groups ever since.