Editing Chinese checkers (section)

==Rules==
[[File:Chinese_checkers_moves.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|A single move can consist of multiple hops; each piece hopped must be directly adjacent, and hops can be in any direction.]]
The aim is to race all one's pieces into the star corner on the opposite side of the board before the opponents do the same. The destination corner is called ''home''. Each player has 10 pieces, except in games between two players, when 15 pieces are used.<ref>Parlett (1999), p. 135.</ref> (On bigger star boards, 15 or 21 pieces are used.<ref>Mohr (1997), p. 76.</ref>)

In "hop across", the most popular variation, each player starts with their colored pieces on one of the six points or corners of the star and attempts to race them all home into the opposite corner. Players take turns moving a single piece, either by moving one step in any direction to an adjacent empty space, or by jumping in one or any number of available consecutive hops over other single pieces. A player may not combine hopping with a single-step move — a move consists of one or the other. There is no capturing in Chinese checkers, so pieces that are hopped over remain active and in play. Turns proceed clockwise around the board.<ref name="Bell"/>

In the diagram, Blue might move the topmost piece one space diagonally forward as shown. A ''hop'' consists of jumping over a single adjacent piece, either one's own or an opponent's, to the empty space directly beyond it in the same line of direction. Red might advance the indicated piece by a chain of seven hops in a single move. It is not mandatory to make the most hops possible. (In some instances a player may choose to stop the jumping sequence part way in order to impede the opponent's progress, or to align pieces for planned future moves.)

===Starting layouts===

====Six players====
Can be played "all versus all", or three teams of two. When playing teams, teammates usually sit at opposite corners of the star, with each team member controlling their own colored set of pieces. The first team to advance both sets to their home destination corners is the winner. The remaining players usually continue play to determine second- and third-place finishers, etc.

====Four players====
The four-player game is the same as the game for six players, except that two opposite corners will be unused.

====Three players====
[[File:160327 Chinese checkers 02.jpg|thumb|A three-player game]]
In a three-player game, all players control either one or two sets of pieces each. If one set is used, pieces race across the board into empty, opposite corners. If two sets are used, each player controls two differently colored sets of pieces at opposite corners of the star.

====Two players====
In a two-player game, each player plays one, two, or three sets of pieces. If one set is played, the pieces usually go into the opponent's starting corner, and the number of pieces per side is increased to 15 (instead of the usual 10). If two sets are played, the pieces can either go into the opponent's starting corners, or one of the players' two sets can go into an opposite empty corner. If three sets are played, the pieces usually go into the opponent's starting corners.