Chinese Checkers Solver: Best Move Helper

How to use the solver

1. Pick a marble colour, White or Black. The eraser empties a hole.
2. Tap holes on the star to build your position. Tapping a hole that already holds that colour empties it. Each side can have at most 10 marbles, the number it starts with.
3. Set the side to move. White starts at the bottom point and moves first in a new game.
4. Press Find best move. The start and end holes get a dashed frame, the holes the marble hops through are shaded, and a line joins every hop. The full path is written out under the board.
5. Press Play this move to make it, then find the reply for the other side.

Starting position loads the opening setup. Clear board empties the star so you can build an endgame from nothing. Copy link copies a link that opens this exact position with the same side to move.

How the solver picks a move

It runs the same Chinese Checkers engine as the AI opponent on this site, inside your browser. It tries every move for the side to move, then the best replies to each, and scores the positions it reaches. The score counts how far each marble still has to travel to the far corner of its goal triangle, gives credit for marbles already home, and takes points off for the marble furthest behind, because one straggler can cost a game.

It plays by this site's rules. A marble either steps to a neighbouring empty hole or hops over one marble, yours or the other side's, into the empty hole straight beyond it. It can keep hopping and stop after any hop. Nothing is captured. You win when every hole in your goal triangle is full and at least one of those marbles is yours. The Chinese Checkers rules page explains that last rule and why the site uses it.

Limits of the search

The solver looks up to 8 half-moves ahead, which is 4 moves for each side, and stops after about 4 seconds. It searches one depth at a time and answers with the deepest search that finished. Once hop chains open up, a turn can have dozens of legal moves, so in a crowded middlegame it often gets only three or four half-moves deep. Near the start and in sparse endgames it gets further. The status line tells you the depth it reached.

The move it shows is the best one the search found, not a proven best move, and a deeper search could disagree. When several moves score the same, it picks one of them at random, so pressing Find best move again can give a different move of equal value.

It covers the two-player game only, like the game on this site. The classic board seats up to six players, but the solver cannot set up three, four or six sides.

To play a full game, play Chinese Checkers against the AI or a friend. For checkers and draughts positions, use the checkers solver.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Chinese Checkers solver do?

You set up a position on the 121-hole star board and choose whose turn it is. The engine searches for the strongest move it can find for that side and shows it on the board, hop by hop. You can play the move and ask for the next one.

How many moves ahead does it look?

Up to 8 half-moves, which is 4 moves for each side. It stops after about 4 seconds and keeps the deepest search that finished. Crowded positions with lots of hop chains get a shallower search. The status line shows how deep it got.

Is the suggested move always the best move?

No. It is the best move the search found in the time it had. A deeper search might pick something else, especially in a busy middlegame.

Does it work for 3, 4 or 6 players?

No. It covers the two-player game, White against Black from opposite points, which is the game you can play on this site.

Why can't I add more than 10 marbles?

Each side starts with 10 marbles and nothing is ever captured, so a real game never has more than 10 of one colour on the board.

Can I share a position?

Yes. The address bar updates as you edit, and Copy link puts the same link on your clipboard. Opening it loads the position and the side to move.