Section 5: Scoring & Winning
Winning the Game
A player wins immediately upon occupying every required position in their destination triangle with their own pieces. In a standard game, this means placing all 10 pieces into the 10 destination positions. In a 15-piece game, all 15 pieces must occupy the agreed destination formation.
The destination must contain the winner's complete army. A piece elsewhere on the board does not count as finished merely because all currently open destination positions are occupied.
Blocked Destination
If an opponent's piece remains in a player's destination, use the anti-blocking agreement selected before play. The recommended casual rule is that an opponent may not claim permanent shelter there and must leave when able. If an opposing piece occupies the final needed position and has no legal move out, the waiting player's own piece may be treated as having reached that position once it is directly adjacent and otherwise able to enter. This prevents a player from being denied victory by an immovable blocker.
Continuing for Places
In a multiplayer game, play may stop when the first player wins, or the remaining players may continue to determine second, third, and later places. A finished player's pieces stay in the destination triangle and continue to act as jumpable obstacles. The finished player takes no further turns.
Optional Match Scoring
Chinese Checkers normally awards a win rather than points. For a series of games, players may use the following simple system:
- First place receives one match point for every opponent in the game.
- Second place receives one fewer point, continuing downward by one point per place.
- Last place receives zero match points.
- After an agreed number of games, the player with the most match points wins the series.
Ending an Unfinished Game
If the game must end early, count how many of each player's pieces are inside that player's destination. The player with the most destination pieces ranks highest. Break a tie by comparing the tied players' remaining pieces one at a time according to how close they are to the destination, favoring the army with less total travel remaining. Players may instead declare a draw if they do not want to calculate distances.
If all remaining players repeatedly recreate the same position or agree that no one can make meaningful progress, the game may be declared a draw. Casual groups may also set a turn limit before play and use the unfinished-game comparison when the limit is reached.