Game: Chinese Checkers

Thread: Re: Thanksgiving Day game of Chinese Checkers with 6 adults

ackmondual — 2008-12-01T15:29:25+00:00

For 6p eurogames, consider Citadels, Settlers Of Catan/Seafarers Of Catan/Cities & KNights Of Catan + their respective 5/6 player expansions. Do note that these games may not be suitable for nongamers in the sense that games can take 2+ hours with Citadels and the Catan games 2 to 3+ hours.

Carcassonne does 6p if you have the first expansion that adds another set of meeples to the series. Medici is on the level.... and that's about all I can think of.

Forget Power Grid for a group of non-gamers

Thread: Thanksgiving Day game of Chinese Checkers with 6 adults

ralpher — 2008-11-28T20:09:58+00:00

Last night we had a party for six (4 women and two men) for thanksgiving. Previously my wife and I had agreed (reluctantly on my part) to play Monopoly with the guests as I did not have a six player game that would be easy enough to teach and play.

Blokus Trigon and Rumis seemed like good choices for these non-gamer guests, but that would require making two people teams. Diplomacy wouldn't work with all the women. Eurogames seemed to top out with five players, unfortunately.

When Bruce, the other male guest suggested we play chess after seeing football was a bust, I found a copy of chinese checkers in a tin and broke it out for everyone. I'd actually never played chinese checkers with more than four people, and the guests had never played it before. So the stigma of being a kid's game wasn't in their minds.

A six player chinese checker game is actually quite a trip. All the players pushed their marbles into the middle, and prevented all but the most well-thought out jumping. Bruce had some initial success but became bogged down. His wife benefited from some of his dubious moves, and looked like a winner, until I pointed out her lead and other players began blocking her jumps. My wife, who sat opposite of me, would move her marbles suboptimally just to slow down my progress. In the end I won, with Michelle, a first time player coming in second just one move behind. Bruce's wife third, and my wife fourth. While there was a bit of downtime with 5 players, it was an interactive game of trying to convince players to make a move that would keep your planned move intact. The game took close to 90 minutes to play with six.

Chinese checkers may be associated with checkers and other kids' games, but it's actually a prototype abstract Eurogame. So if you have a group of six nongamers, don't forget about this game.

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Dottor_Destino — 2008-10-18T15:18:04+00:00

Board, Noris Spiele

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Dottor_Destino — 2008-10-18T15:17:16+00:00

Cover, Noris Spiele

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garygarison — 2008-09-30T18:37:08+00:00

Steven brand Chinese Checkers board detail

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garygarison — 2008-09-30T18:36:09+00:00

Steven brand Chinese Checkers with then-acceptable Oriental imagery

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Malvictis — 2008-09-26T15:58:19+00:00

Box cover

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Malvictis — 2008-09-26T15:57:16+00:00

Game board

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siuchak — 2008-08-06T18:16:32+00:00

Chinese Checkers board and rule in Chinese

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herman_the_german — 2008-07-18T16:38:37+00:00

A nice wood board. Christmas edition at Target stores.

Thread: Re: Opportunist wrecks the game in amusing style.

WoozyB — 2008-05-20T01:16:59+00:00

That is pretty amusing.

Most of the times we've played, though, the rule is all stray pieces must be moved, no matter what.

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rseater — 2008-05-09T14:45:05+00:00

Romance of the Three Kingdoms edition -- the pieces look like characters from the book!

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rseater — 2008-05-09T14:44:06+00:00

Romance of the Three Kingdoms edition -- the 3 leaders

Thread: Re: Opportunist wrecks the game in amusing style.

Luis A. Abril Romero — 2008-03-25T09:08:20+00:00

That wickedness of women...

Thread: Re: A good, simpler, alternative to Chess.

ackmondual — 2008-03-25T06:58:45+00:00

scanned through this post. So far, most excellent. Perhaps consider posting this in the strategy section as well.

Thread: Opportunist wrecks the game in amusing style.

psymann — 2008-03-25T03:03:24+00:00

I once played this game as a six-player affair on the floor in the middle of a student party. Somehow, the board remained intact throughout, and we were able to play to a finish... of sorts.

We all started off, as you do, by trying to move our pieces out of our triangles, into the triangle on the opposite side of the board. It wasn't long before the board was awash with pieces of all colours fighting for position in the centre of the board.

James was doing annoyingly well, having made use of some of Dave's pieces, and I was reasonably happy with my position. The others were not far behind, apart from Helen, who seemed to be lagging behind with some strange moves that weren't benefitting her much.

I focussed on trying to block James, while taking advantage of some other routes to advance my pieces as far as possible. Dave managed to muscle himself a bit further along, and Helen was still all over the place.

James and I started to get blocked a fair bit, and then after a few more turns, the middle of the board started to clear, as people passed the centre ground, and started to move towards their triangles. It was then that we took slightly more notice of Helen. This is how the end of the game played out:

Me: Helen, you do know which triangle you're meant to be going to?

Helen: i]correctly pointing to the triangle opposite her[/i Yes - that one

Me: But that piece you've got into James's triangle - it's not really heading in the right direction...

Helen smiled, and took her turn - moving one of her pieces into Dave's triangle.

Dave: Hey - get that out of the way - you're meant to be going over there!

Helen: Mmhmm.

It came round to Helen's turn again, and it was soon clear that another of her pieces was heading towards my triangle.

Me: Helen! What is this?

Helen: Well. I can see I am never going to win this game. You are all too good at it. But if I keep one of my pieces in each of your triangles, you can't win either, right?

Me: Right.

Helen: So - first person to give me five pounds, I'll move my piece out of their triangle so you can win.

Me: You want to be paid in cash to allow us to win?

Helen: i]grinning[/i Yes.

Thread: A good, simpler, alternative to Chess.

psymann — 2008-03-25T02:34:19+00:00

Rules:
- Few/Some/Many/Loads
- Intuitive/Medium/Confusing

Parts:
- Vary depending on manufacturer.

Interaction:
- None/Some/Much/Loads
- Shafting/Mainlyshafting/Both/MainlyHelping/Helping

Luck:
- None/Little/Some/Much/Loads

Memory:
- None/Little/Some/Much/Loads

'Party' Fun:
- Silly/Amusing/Mild/Serious

Strategies/Methods for Winning:
- One/Two/Some/Lots

Tactics During Game (adapting to situations):
- None/Few/Some/Lots

Ability to Pick on Winning Player:
- None/Some/Lots

Time (mins):
- under 30/30-60/60-120/over 120

Summary:

This is quite a dry game, but if you like games that involve no luck, no memory requirements, and a fair bit of thought, then you'd like this. In a way, it's a bit like Chess for people that want a simpler version and not to get beaten by people who have learnt Chess so much already.

The game is played on a board which is a hexagon, with a coloured triangle off each edge of the hexagon. You can play with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players (you could play with 5, but it wouldn't quite be evenly fair to all players).

Each player has ten pieces, of a colour to match one of the triangles. To start the game, the pieces are placed in their triangle. The aim of the game is to be the first to transfer all their pieces to the triangle on the opposite side of the board.

Players take it in turns to move one piece at a time. A move can be:
o) Moving one of their pieces from its current location to an adjacent spot (a step).
o) Moving one of their pieces from its current location, past an adjacent piece of any colour, to the space the other side of that piece (a jump).
o) Multiple jumps.

These are the same moves as you'd get in draughts (aka Checkers), except that with a jump, you don't remove the piece you jumped over.

The strategy revolves around moving your pieces as fast as possible, while blocking other players from doing the same.

A fairly normal initial strategy would be like this:

1) Start with your pieces in your triangle.

2) Jump a piece from your second row, over the piece in the first row, to advance it up the board.

3) Step the piece one step forward.

4) Jump a piece from as far back as possible, over first one piece, then the next, then the next, to advance it as far as possible up the board.

5) Step that piece another step forward.

6) Jump the next piece from as far back as possible over as many pieces as possible, to advance it as far as possible up the board.

And so on... if you were playing solitaire, you'd just keep doing this, gradually extending your supply line up the board, and bringing the rear-most pieces to the front.

Of course, it's not solitaire. You have other players to deal with, and they're trying to move their pieces as well. Not only are they trying to find room to move their own pieces - and since each person is crossing the board from a different angle, space is at a premium in the middle of the board - they're also looking for opportunities to block your supply line, and use your pieces to add to their own.

For example, let's say that in the above example, Blue was coming in from the left.

The next move in the process for Green would be to move piece "1" forward one step, to extend his supply line. But Blue can then block his supply line by moving to A. Green will be wanting next to move piece "2" through the supply line, but with a blue piece stuck at A, his path will be blocked. Green may therefore choose to move "2" now, to get it as far as possible before it is blocked, also blocking blue back in the process.

Or so he thinks... if I extend the view of the board out a bit, you'll see that Green's move of piece "2" to A has blocked blue from extending his supply line, and therefore stopped him from later moving piece "Y" along that line, but there's nothing he can do to stop blue moving piece "X" along the arrows shown, jumping over two of his own, and one of green's, pieces to advance his piece a good distance.

The tactical decisions are great in this game - as you can see, an opponent can block you, and you have to decide the best way to deal with it. If you can still use most of your supply line, maybe you just get pieces as far as you can. But maybe you need to divert your supply line - either with your own pieces or with your opponents' to help. Or maybe you need to start a completely new line in a new direction. How much do you rely on opponents' pieces, which they might move at any moment? How much do you rely on one nice supply line that might get blocked, and how much do you move pieces shorter distances in groups, so that you have far more option available to you?

The options are many. I've mostly played this two-player, and you can have some quite friendly games, with little blocking, or some more cut-throat ones where there's lots of blocking and interaction. A six-player game involves so many more pieces on the board, that you are forced to use your opponents' pieces much more, and need to be yet quicker to adapt to change, so it is a lot more hectic with more people.

-----

On the plus side, the lack of luck means you can never blame the dice, or the cards, for your poor performance. Victory is in your own hands. And the lack of a need for memorising anything is also good. If you're the sort of person who likes Chess and Draughts because there's no luck involved, then you'd like this. The other advantage it has is that it can be played with up to 6 people, whereas both Chess and Draughts are two-player only. Also, although you could purchase a good version of the game, it's simple enough to draw out on a piece of paper and use some generic counters, and create the game for free.

On the negative side, there's no theme and it's not exactly a barrel of laughs. Lack of luck means that there's scope for analysis paralysis, and I would suppose (though I've never met anyone who fits this) that you could find people who'd studied opening moves in this game in the same way they would in Chess. As a result, it can suffer from the same problems of new players being torn apart by experienced players.

But since it's less complicated than Chess, and people haven't written books about it explaining every possible strategy (or if they have, few people have read them), this is a great game to play as a more fun, lighthearted, version of Chess.

So - a good game for people who want a more accessible version of Chess. It is to Chess what Whist is to Bridge. Less complicated, fewer people who have got PhDs in how to play it, and also allows a wider number of players.

If you like pure strategy, and you want to involve friends in a strategic game with simple rules, then this is great. If you like party games and exciting themes, then go elsewhere.

Thread: Re: User Review

Professor Plum — 2007-12-09T14:56:01+00:00

I have no problem with a 1 rating for the review, but what do you think I should add to it? Better instructions? More about international leagues? Strategy? My reaction to the gameplay?

Analyze the game's strengths and weaknesses. Why would anyone want to play this? I've always hated this game for some reason, though I've only played it 5 or 6 times when I was a kid. I read your review looking for a second opinion and got none.

A more in-depth explanation of the rules or strategy tips can also be helpful to someone like me who is either playing it wrong (not in this case) or missing some deeper layer of a game's mechanics (possibly.)

Cheers!

Thread: Chinese Hexy Checkers (or Chexy)

Fitzinnhacihts — 2007-03-26T20:46:15+00:00

Lots of gamers have a Chinese checkers board, but far fewer have a Hex board. This multiple game superimposes a 11X11 rhombus parallelogram over the lower left point, the center hexagon, and the upper right point of the star to accomodate a Hex game. It takes only another string of holes around those two points, plus an additional hole in each of the obtuse corners in the Northwest and Southeast star valleys. Some addtional marbles or pegs in two colors are also needed to play Hex.

Drill additional holes in wooden boards. There may not be room at end of outmost points, but Hex may still be played. I chose to use a LiteBrite game from a thrift store. Get one with sufficent pegs. I designed a permanent expanded Chinese star on the pegboard. You may wish to use www.hasbro.com/litebrite/swf/lite_savingswf to first prefect the design, guided by the following information. "Peg" every other hole in all directions. Place first peg in the center peghole of the fourth row down. This peg will be the top point of a large equilateral triangle, after the insertion of 13 pegs on each side of the triangle. Place 6 pegs within top point of the star (leaving spacing holes around pegs). Equally extend the last row of pegs outward in each direction until you have 13 pegs. This row will be the top side of a inverted equilateral triangle. When sides converge at bottom point, you will have a Star of David. Now fill in the other points of the star with pegs. As each peg is removed from a playing hole, the surrounding spacing holes must be filled-in level with the board. I cut tiny pieces of spline (used to keep window screens in their frames, but putty or another filler might work). After the points are done, peg the center hexagon, and again fill surrounding spacing holes as pegs are removed. The Chinese star is now complete. Add necessary pegs beyond edges of star for playing Hex as mentioned above. As you remove these Hex pegs, plug spacing holes and any unfilled holes in outer border.

The expanded center hexagon will allow games like Abalone, Unlur, trinidad, etc. to be played. Hopefully someone will market this expanded board with the additional needed pegs or marbles.

See Star Runners Ludo at: www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1415090
This is a Pachisi type game played on a Chinese Checker Star. The site has a diagram of a Chinese Hexy Chexy star.

Thread: Re: User Review

thewidow13 — 2006-09-26T03:03:44+00:00

This game isn't even from China. "Chinese Chess" was invented in India. Some stupid fool in history named it Chinese Chess for only God knows what reason. such a terrible shame.

Thread: Re: User Review

drunkenKOALA — 2006-07-25T16:16:35+00:00

The American version seems a bit weird (never played it, just saw pictures of it). In the Taiwanese version, players are 2 or 3, no more. And the size of the board seems to be different too. I think in the Taiwanese version each triangle has the length of 5 instead of 4. Makes it much more fun and playable in my opinion.

Thread: Horse Race Chinese Checkers

junesen — 2005-05-06T06:22:11+00:00

Horse Race Chinese Checkers
1st - Hilari (6)
2nd? - Lou (5)
3rd? - Jean-Luc (8)
4th - Jeff W. (5)

This is suggested by Jean-Luc. His game was not quite the standard Chinese Checker layout of a triangle for the starting area, but 3 rows of marbles. We also play with the rule that a marble can jump over as many consecutive marbles (not just only one marble). The rules made the game go much faster, though probably less strategic.

In the initial setup, Hilari faced Lou, while Jean-Luc and I were heading towards an empty destination. I think the rules of jumping over multiple marbles favored congestion and having opponents starting on the opposite side. Hilari said she played quite a lot of Chinese Checkers when she was a child came away with the victory.

Thread: Re:User Review

Shade_Jon — 2004-12-02T20:29:42+00:00

Shade_Jon (#68136),

I have no problem with a 1 rating for the review, but what do you think I should add to it? Better instructions? More about international leagues? Strategy? My reaction to the gameplay?

Yehuda

Thread: User Review

Shade_Jon — 2004-12-01T18:14:58+00:00

The gist:

The game board is a six pointed star with little triangles in hexagonal patterns. Each player starts in one corner of the star with all pieces filled (generally 10 or 15 pieces filling up a point of the star). During your turn, each piece can move one space, or jump your own or your opponents pieces one or more jumps.

Winner is the first player to have all their pieces in opposite corner. If opponent doesn't move their corner pieces, then having at least one piece in the opposite corner and all spaces filled counts as a win.

The trick is to give yourself numerous multiple jumps while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Setting up the long jumps is still fun after all these years, especially if they involve backwards or sideways jumps.