Halma is a classic strategy board game invented in the 1880s and the direct ancestor of Chinese Checkers. You command the green army packed into the bottom-right camp, and your goal is a graceful race across the 16×16 grid: move every one of your pieces diagonally into the opposite (top-left) camp before the computer fills yours. The magic is in the hops — with the right stepping stones a single piece can leap clear across the board in one turn.
Play free online Halma right in your browser with no download or account, against three levels of AI. Easy to pick up, genuinely tricky to win cleanly.
Halma was devised around 1883–1884 in the United States, generally credited to George Howard Monks, a Boston surgeon, and its name is borrowed from the ancient Greek word for "jump." It became a drawing-room sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the 1890s German makers reshaped its jumping race onto a six-pointed star — creating Sternhalma, the game the world now knows as Chinese Checkers (which, despite the name, is neither Chinese nor checkers).
Serious Halma play is all about tempo. Because a single step and a long jump chain each cost one turn, the player who builds and rides ladders — chains of well-spaced pieces — moves their army several times faster than one who shuffles forward square by square. Opening theory favours launching the middle of your formation first, so the corner stragglers can catapult across later.
Be the first to move all of your pieces into the far corner camp. You play the green army (bottom-right) racing to the top-left; the AI races the other way.
Tap or click one of your green pieces to select it — its legal destinations light up. Tap a highlighted square to move. A piece can step one square in any of the eight directions into an empty space, or jump over any adjacent piece (yours or the AI's) into the empty square beyond. Jumps can be chained for as long as more hops are available.
Filling the far camp first wins the game and records a victory. There is no points tally — Halma is a pure race to relocate your whole army.
Build ladders of pieces so trailing stragglers can hop the full length of the board, and never leave a piece marooned in your own camp — one straggler can cost you the race. Switch to Hard to face a smarter, faster opponent.
Is Halma the same as Chinese Checkers?
They are close relatives. Halma came first, played on a square 16×16 board; Chinese Checkers adapted its step-and-jump movement to a star-shaped board in 1890s Germany.
Can you jump over the opponent's pieces in Halma?
Yes. You may hop over any adjacent piece — yours or the AI's — into the empty square directly beyond, and chain hops together in a single turn. Jumped pieces are never captured or removed.
How do you win Halma?
Move all of your pieces into the opposite corner camp before the computer fills yours. It is a race, not a battle — no piece is ever taken off the board.
More classic games: Chinese Checkers, Checkers, Fox and Geese, Peg Solitaire, Chess, and all 100 free games.