Standard 2-Player Halma
Halma was invented in 1883 by George Howard Monks in Boston, and inspired other games such as Chinese Checkers.
Halma — 2-player starting position
https://engine.moddable.games/play/?game=halma&variant=standard-2p
Setup
Board: 16×16 checkered board, columns A–P (left to right), rows 1–16 (bottom to top).
Pieces: 19 pieces per player in two distinct colours.
Camps: Each player begins with all pieces filling their corner camp — a staircase-shaped triangular region in one corner of the board. The camps are in diagonally opposite corners.
Player 1 camp (bottom-right corner):
| Column | Rows occupied |
|---|---|
| P (16) | 1–5 |
| O (15) | 1–4 |
| N (14) | 1–4 |
| M (13) | 1–3 |
| L (12) | 1–3 |
Player 2 camp is the mirror image in the top-left corner (columns A–E, rows 12–16).
First move: Decide by mutual agreement or lot.
Movement
On each turn a player moves one piece. A piece may:
- Step: Move to any adjacent square in any of the eight directions (orthogonal or diagonal), provided the destination is unoccupied.
- Hop: Jump over any adjacent piece — your own or your opponent’s — to the vacant square immediately beyond it in the same direction. The hopped piece is not removed.
- Chain hop: After a hop, the same piece may continue hopping over further adjacent pieces in any direction, as many times as the player wishes. A player may stop a chain at any point.
A player must move on every turn. A piece may step or hop but not both in the same turn.
Camp rule
Once a piece has entered the opponent’s camp, it may not leave. A piece that would move out of the opponent’s camp is not permitted to do so.
Winning
The first player to fill the opponent’s corner camp entirely with their own pieces wins.
If the opponent’s camp is partially occupied by the opponent’s own pieces that have not moved, those squares are still available targets; the game continues until the entire camp is filled by the winner’s pieces.
Attribution
Halma. Invented 1883, George Howard Monks, Boston. Public domain. Rules confirmed from Ludeme/Ludii (Maastricht University game research library) and Atvriders/cards-and-such halma-quiz (independent rules confirmation). Piece count independently confirmed by jeromydarling/heritage-parlor.