Easy Chinese checkers
Easy Chinese checkers is Sternhalma on the 121-hole star board against a computer that plays without looking ahead. Rules match Chinese checkers: no captures, chain jumps optional, goal-zone lock in place.
You start at the south point and race your ten marbles to the north point. Only the computer's search depth changes between Easy, Medium, and Hard.
Chinese checkers in Easy mode
Move all ten of your marbles from the south point of the star into the opposite point at the north. There is no capturing — a jumped marble stays on the board.
- Step one hole in any of six directions onto an empty neighbor, or hop over one adjacent marble to the empty hole directly beyond it.
- A single turn may chain several hops, even changing direction between hops — you choose how far the chain runs.
- Once a marble reaches your goal point, it may only move within that point, not back out.
What the Easy opponent sees
The Easy opponent has no search tree at all — it scores every legal move once with the position evaluation and adds randomness, then plays its best-scoring option.
The evaluation rewards marbles closer to the goal point, marbles already home, and clusters of marbles that can hop each other — there is no material count to weigh, since nothing is ever captured.
It plays a reasonable single move but never looks ahead, so it will not set up or notice a multi-turn hopping ladder.
Simple plans that beat Easy
Chain early, chain often
Easy has no lookahead, so it will not notice or block a hopping ladder you set up two moves in advance. Line up your marbles and cross several rows in one turn.
Don't wait for a perfect chain
A single clean step forward beats a turn spent hoping for a better jump. Easy plays its best move immediately — you should too.
Ignore the empty side points
With only two players, the board's other four points are empty holes with no owner. Feel free to route a jump through them; nothing punishes it.
Chinese checkers difficulty levels compared
| Level | Best for | Search | Typical gap | Practice focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy (this page) | Learning hops and chain jumps | greedy evaluation + randomness (no search tree) | Picks its best single move with no lookahead; ignores your reply entirely | Practice chaining two or three hops in one turn before you race |
| Medium | The default Chinese checkers opponent | alpha-beta depth ≈ 3 | Plans a few moves ahead but still misses long hopping ladders | Build a ladder of your own marbles to cross the board in fewer turns |
| Hard | A faster-racing computer opponent | alpha-beta depth ≈ 4 | Searches one ply deeper than Medium — still a fixed-depth browser engine | Keep the hole beyond your next hop clear before you commit to a chain |
Need a refresher on the basics? Read the complete Chinese Checkers guide and rules on Checkerso for star-board navigation, chain-jump mechanics, and goal-point rules.
Frequently asked questions
Does Easy Chinese checkers use different rules?
No. The board, chain-jump BFS, and goal-zone lock are the same as on the main Chinese checkers page. Only the computer's move selection changes.
Why does the Easy computer sometimes make an odd-looking move?
Easy scores each legal move once, adds a little randomness, and plays its best-scoring option — it never simulates your reply, so it can miss the objectively best hop.
When should I move up to Medium?
Once you can beat Easy by building hopping ladders without thinking hard, Medium adds real lookahead and will start contesting the race.