In the standard way of playing this game, to hop a piece, your piece must be beside it, and jumps to the vacant space immediately past the piece you have hopped (and, of course, you can move in a chain of hops).
To make the game much more interesting, adjust the rule so that you can move over any number of empty spaces, then over the piece, provided that you then move over the same number of pieces on the other side of the piece you hopped, before you land. Of course, your move must be in a straight line. So if you jumped one vacant space then a piece, you move over one more vacant space before you land. You are only allowed to jump one piece, so if there is a vacant space, and a piece, and another vacant space, then another piece, your move is blocked, likewise if there is a vacant space, two pieces, and another vacant space. You could also jump two vacant spaces, three vacant spaces, and so on. The rule about a chain of hops still holds.
This form of jumping is used by Eric Solomon in his enticing Billabong (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/464).
I wish I could say that I invented this form of moving myself, but I think I read it in the '80s in an issue of "Jeux et Strategie" (and if not there, in "Games and Puzzles").
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