Grasshopper
Opening Positions on the 8x8 Checkerboard and the 10x10 Checkerboard
Alternate Names
Diamond Chinese Checkers is another name for this game (not to be confused with another variation of Chinese Checkers played on a smaller board and called Diamond Game)
No. of Players
Two
Equipment
An 8x8 checkerboard with ten counters per player, or 10x10 (Continental) checkerboard with fifteen counters per player are required for play. Usually, the board is rotated 45 degrees to play.
History
Objective
The first player to move all his or her counters to the other player's starting position wins.
Play
All of the rules of Chinese Checkers apply but some clarification is needed for the movement of counters. Counters always move one space to an orthogonally adjacent cell. Thus, if a counter does not make a jump it will always move to a cell of a different color. Jumps are always over a counter in an adjacent cell to a necessarily vacant cell just beyond (of the same color as the starting cell). Multiple jumps per turn are allowed and the direction of the jump may change each time.
Strategy
Variations
Sources
Kraitchik, M. Mathematical Recreations. London, 1948.
Murray, H.J.R. A History of Board Games other than Chess. Oxford University Press, 1952.