What is Halma on a 10×10 board?
Halma on a 10×10 board is the two-player game on a mid-sized grid. Each player starts with 15 pieces in a triangle of five rows in their corner: 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 squares, counted from the corner outwards. The two camps face each other across the long diagonal, and the first player to fill the opponent's starting camp with their own pieces wins.
The moves are those of the full game. On your turn you move one piece, either one step to an empty neighbouring square in any of the eight directions, or a chain of jumps over single pieces of either colour into the empty square directly beyond, stopping after any jump you like. Nothing is captured, and a piece that has reached your goal camp may move within it but never leave it.
The 10×10 board sits between the other sizes. With 70 empty squares at the start there is room to build ladders of pieces for long chains of jumps before the armies meet, but the middle of the board fills up quickly, and blocking your opponent's best lanes while keeping your own open matters from the first moves. A game is markedly shorter than on 16×16 while keeping much of its planning.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Halma | Halma on a 10×10 board |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Standard Halma16×16, 256 squares. | Halma on a 10×10 board10×10, 100 squares. |
| Pieces each | Standard Halma19. | Halma on a 10×10 board15. |
| Starting camp | Standard HalmaA stepped triangle of 19 squares in your corner: rows of 5, 5, 4, 3 and 2, counted from the corner outwards. | Halma on a 10×10 boardA triangle of five rows in your corner: 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 squares from the corner outwards. |
| Moves | Standard HalmaOne step to an empty neighbouring square in any of eight directions, or a chain of jumps over single pieces of either colour. Nothing is captured. | Halma on a 10×10 boardThe same. |
| How to win | Standard HalmaBe the first to fill the opposite camp with your 19 pieces. A piece in that camp can no longer leave it. | Halma on a 10×10 boardBe the first to fill the opposite 15-square camp. A piece in that camp can no longer leave it. |
| Game length | Standard HalmaA long race: 19 pieces to bring across a wide, mostly empty board. | Halma on a 10×10 boardShorter: 15 pieces over a shorter diagonal. |
History
Halma was invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American surgeon at Harvard Medical School, inspired by the English game Hoppity of 1854. Its name is the Greek word for a jump. The original game is played on a board of 16×16 squares by two or four players.
Reference descriptions of the game also give 8×8 and 10×10 boards as versions adequate for two players, with 10 and 15 pieces per player respectively. Some websites add a move limit, under which a player who has not finished after a set number of moves (typically 50 on 10×10) loses. That limit is not part of the traditional rules and is not used here.