When Emily was younger and spent more time at our house, we always played a lot of games. One game that we played was Chinese Checkers. If you go to a toy store, most times you won\u2019t find Chinese Checkers in the game section. I guess it\u2019s considered too old fashioned and not high-tech enough for today\u2019s generation. But Emily always enjoyed playing it when she was here.<\/p>\n
The name always fascinated me \u2014 it\u2019s not really like checkers, except for the part where you \u201cjump\u201d over the playing pieces. In checkers, when you jump your opponent\u2019s checker, you take it off the board\u2026 not so in Chinese Checkers. That\u2019s not the only difference, of course, because they are different games.<\/p>\n
I always just assumed that the game must have been invented, or originated, in China. So I figured this would be a good exercise to keep my extensive research sharp. Although, once again, my extensive research, wasn\u2019t totally conclusive \u2014 it did uncover the fact the game is not a variation of \u201ccheckers\u201d and it didn\u2019t originate in China. Like a lot of things, there\u2019s a bit of historical uncertainty about the origin of the game. Wikipedia, a usually reliable source, indicates the game is of German origin, but more of the sources I found seem to agree that it first appeared as a game called \u201cHoppity\u201d that was popular in Great Britain in the latter part of the 19th century. The original game (like Chinese Checkers) allowed for more than two players \u2014 the board was square and players could play from all four corners of the board, allowing up to four to play. The game did eventually make its way to Germany, where it was changed to play on a six-pointed star shaped playing board. The Germans re-named the game \u201cStern-Halma.\u201d Halma is the German name for Hoppity and Stern is Star. So the modern-day game as we know it was at least finalized or refined in Germany. But \u201cChinese\u201d was never associated with the game. When the game showed up in America, it was released by the Pressman Co., an American toy company, under the name \u201cHop Ching Checkers.\u201d The board was decorated with dragons and Fu Manchu images and the words were written in a chop-suey style font.<\/p>\n
The game was released in 1928 and it soon became more popular than either its English or German ancestors. Because the game was so successful, other toy and game companies wanted to get in on the craze \u2014 and each of the various companies spin-offs included the Oriental (today, Asian) themes originated by the Pressman Co.
\nEventually, Milton Bradley Company patented the name \u201cChinese Checkers,\u201d for their version of the game, in 1941. And the name stuck. Even in China, the game is known as \u201cChinese Checkers\u201d although the game has no actual ties to the country.<\/p>\n
Claire is always saying she\u2019d like to find something not made in China. I realize that\u2019s getting harder and harder to do, but if you buy Chinese Checkers, it may be made<\/em> in China, but at least it wasn\u2019t invented<\/em> there\u2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Emily was younger and spent more time at our house, we always played a lot of games. One game that we played was Chinese Checkers. If you go to a toy store, most times you won\u2019t find Chinese Checkers … Continue reading
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n