Halma

About Halma

Halma is the Victorian race game the whole jumping family descends from, played against the Shepherdess on the sixteen-by-sixteen board: nineteen men each in opposite corner yards, marching corner to corner. A man steps one cell any way, or leaps any adjacent man and keeps leaping as far as the ladder carries. Nothing is ever captured; the board only grows more tangled. First flock to fill the far yard wins. Play solo, or take a seat at a live, rated table. Free in your browser, no ads, no sign-up.

How to play

Tap a man to see everywhere he can go: one step to any adjacent empty cell, or a chain of jumps over adjacent men, yours or hers, each hop landing on the empty cell just beyond. Chains turn corners and run as long as the board allows. Fill every cell of the far yard with your nineteen men to win; a game that dawdles past three hundred moves is reckoned by men home, then by ground gained.

Controls

• Tap a manShow his roads
• Tap a lit cellMarch there

Tips

Build ladders: men spaced one apart become a road the whole flock rides. Move the straggler before the leader, leave the home yard early, and fill the deep corner of the far yard first, lest your own men block the door.