Super Chinese Checkers

Super Chinese Checkers is the classic six-pointed-star race with one rule changed — and that one change is enough to make it a different, faster, far more tactical game.

What makes it “super”

In classic Chinese Checkers a jump is a short hop: you leap over a piece sitting directly next to yours and land in the empty hole immediately beyond it. Distance one, every time.

Super Chinese Checkers removes that restriction. You may jump over a piece at any distance and land the same distance beyond it, as long as every hole in between is empty. Jump a piece three holes away and you land three holes past it. The jump is symmetric: the piece you jump sits exactly halfway between where you started and where you land.

That single change turns a scattered piece in the middle of the board from an obstacle into a launch pad. Any piece — yours or an opponent's — can be used, so the board is never as empty as it looks.

How it differs from classic Chinese Checkers

• Jumps have no range limit. The classic game caps every jump at one hole. Here the only limit is an empty path.
• Chains are much longer. Because you may keep jumping with the same piece after each jump, a single move can mix short hops and long super-jumps and carry a piece from your own arm to your goal arm.
• Games are shorter. The classic endgame drags as stragglers shuffle home one step at a time. A super-jump lets a trailing piece catch the pack in one move.
• Blocking matters more. Filling a hole to break an opponent's chain is a real defensive move, not an afterthought.

The rest of the rules

Everything else will be familiar if you have played Chinese Checkers before. Each player starts with ten pieces in one arm of the star and races them into the arm directly opposite. On your turn you move one piece: a single step into a neighbouring empty hole, or a jump.

Chaining

After a jump you may jump again with the same piece, as many times as you can, in any mix of short hops and super-jumps. The whole chain is one move.

Other players' arms

You may jump through another player's arm, but your move cannot end there. Every move has to finish in the middle of the board, your own arm, or your goal arm.

The goal-entry bonus

The first time each of your pieces enters your goal arm, you immediately get an extra move — and you may spend it on any of your pieces, not just the one that arrived.

A fair finish

Everyone gets the same number of turns. If you finish first, a player who has had one turn fewer still gets a final turn to equalise; if they get home on it, you share the win.

The full rule reference covers each of these in order, and how to play walks a first-timer through an opening game.

Where to play it

Hopla is a free browser game built around this variant — not a classic implementation with super-jumps bolted on. Play live against friends with clocks, ratings and leaderboards, or pass one device around the table in hotseat mode. It runs in any modern browser on desktop or phone, and installs to your home screen if you want it there.