Board game Halma

Halma is a strategic board game that is played with two to six people. Halma can also be played individually or in teams. In this blog post, you will learn all the rules of Halma and some tips on how to play successfully.

The aim of the game is to move your own pieces to the opposite side. Whoever manages this the fastest wins Halma. The rules of Halma are relatively simple for a strategic board game. That's why it can also be easily learnt and played by children.

Interesting fact: Halma is called ‘chinese checker’ in English. However, the game actually has nothing to do with China at all, as it was invented in the USA. It was simply given this name for marketing reasons.

Playing field
The playing area of Halma is characterised by the six-pointed star. Each point (triangle) contains 10 holes where the pieces start.

Rules of the game
In Halma, all players usually have ten counters and their own house. Only when playing in pairs are 15 tiles sometimes used.

The players take turns one after the other. So player 1 makes his move, then player 2 and then player 3 and so on. In classic Halma, moves are compulsory. This means that you are not allowed to sit out.

During a move, you only move one piece. The piece can move one step in any direction:

The actual strategy of Halma consists of building tracks. If a move square is occupied by one of your own or your opponent's pieces, you can jump over it in the direction of your move. However, this requires that the square behind the stone you jumped over is free.

If you form your pieces skilfully, you can jump over several of them. This allows you to get to the opposite side much faster:

Important: You must decide between a single step and jumping for each move. Both together are not permitted. You may jump for as long as possible. However, you are not forced to do so.

It is often desirable to jump to the end of the chain. In rare cases, however, it may be better to stop the jump voluntarily.

In Halma, all pieces always remain on the board. After all, the aim is to manoeuvre your own pieces quickly to the opposite side. Once a piece has reached the target square, it may no longer leave it. In most cases, this is not desirable anyway.

In principle, the game is over for a player when they have moved all their pieces to the opposite triangle. It is up to the other players to decide whether they want to decide the places of honour among themselves.

The rules do not clearly define a blockade. A blockade is defined as one party not leaving the house with at least one piece. It is therefore not possible for the opponent to order all the pieces into the house:

In this duel, red has obviously acted more skilfully than violet. The red player would like to move his last piece to the finish line, but the violet piece is blocking the square. In this situation, red wins, as he would end the game without a blockade.

What happens if a player cannot move? This situation rarely occurs. A player loses if it is his turn but he cannot make a legal move.

Strategies
It is no secret that long jumps lead to success. But don't forget that the other players can also use your pieces to jump. Therefore, try to move compactly and thus prevent your opponent from making long moves.