Chinese checkers originated in Germany in 1892 as “Stern-Halma.” Stern is the German word for star, like the game's board shape, and the game being a variation of the American game Halma. In 1928 the Pressman company marketed the game as “Hop Ching Checkers.”
The game did eventually make it to China by the Japanese. Imagine their surprise when they were one of the last nations to learn about the game named after them.
There are different variations of Chinese checkers, including “Super Chinese checkers,” which allows pieces to jump over multiple pieces, rather than one-by-one. There is also “Capture,” which have all the pieces starting in the middle and players taking turns jumping over pieces to capture them, like American checkers.
The first patent for “Chinese Checkers” was by the Milton Bradley company in 1941, 13 years after the game was introduced in the United States and swept the nation. How it actually evolved into being called Chinese Checkers is still a mystery.
