Halma (from the Greek word meaning "jump") is a board game invented in 1883 by an English surgeon, Howard Monks. The name Hoppity was also used in attempts to expand into less-educated demographics. A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Bold textDemographics is a shorthand term for population characteristics. Demographics include age, income, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location. ...

Halma 2-player setup

Playing equipment consists of a checkered board, divided into 16x16 squares. Pieces are typically black & white for two-player games, and of various colors or other distinction in games of four players. halma game board setup File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Summary

The goal of the game is to transfer all of one's pieces to the opposing corner. Two-player games start with 19 pieces in opposing corners and four-player games have 13 pieces per player, arranged in each corner. Each turn, a player either moves a single piece to an adjacent open square or by jumping another piece (of any color) to a vacant square on the other side. Pieces making a successful jump may continue jumping until they are unable to continue, though is not compelled to do so.

Rules of play

to do

Comparison to other games

• The mechanic of jumping pieces is reminiscent of draughts or checkers but differs in that no opposing pieces are ever captured or otherwise withdrawn from the board nor is jumping compulsory.

• Similarities between Halma and Chinese Checkers are not coincidental. Chinese Checkers was originally published in 1892 as Stern-Halma (German for "Star Halma") and later renamed upon marketing to the United States to appear more exotic. The name is misleading, since the game has no historical connection with China, nor is it a Checkers game.

starting position on a 10×10 draughts board Draughts, also known as checkers, is a group of mental sport board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemys pieces. ... starting position on a 10×10 draughts board Draughts, also known as checkers, is a group of mental sport board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemys pieces. ... Chinese checkers Chinese checkers is a board game that can be played by two to six people. ... 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

References to halma in fiction

• The game appears in Billy Wilder's 1944 classic film Double Indemnity.
• Talking halma pieces featured in a Rupert the Bear story.

Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906–March 27, 2002) had a career as a screenwriter, film director and producer that spanned more than 50 years and more than 60 films. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir It stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. ... Rupert the Bear is a cartoon character created by Mary Tourtel in the 1920s. ...

External links

• YourturnMyturn.com allows online play of turn-based Halma