Games

Chinese checkers

Chinese checkers on the star board with glass marbles, for two, three, four or six players: move one marble a turn - a step to the next hole or a chain of jumps over single marbles, your own or anyone's - and be the first to fill the point opposite your own. Click a marble to see every hole it can reach; it hops there jump by jump. Play the computer in the other seats at five levels, pass the board round at one screen, ask for a hint, take moves back, or watch a demo game.

By Mykhailo Makarov

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What happens

Each player starts with ten marbles in one point of the star and heads for the point opposite. On a turn one marble moves: a step to a free neighbouring hole, or a chain of jumps - each over one marble of any colour into the free hole straight beyond - turning as it goes. Nothing is captured. A marble that has reached the target point may no longer leave it. The first to fill the opposite point wins; a marble the other side left at home there does not prevent it.

Try this

Click a marble, then one of the marked holes. The right mouse button turns the view, the wheel zooms.

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Games

Ludo

Ludo for two to four players: roll the die, bring your four pawns out of the yard with a six, race them round the loop and up the home column - home takes the exact number. A pawn landing on another sends it back to its yard, except on the start and star squares; a six, a capture and a pawn home each earn another roll, and three sixes in a row lose the turn. The die tumbles on the table and the pawns hop square by square. Play the computer in the other seats at five levels, pass the die round at one screen, or watch a demo game.

Games

Mahjong solitaire

Mahjong solitaire with the full set of 144 tiles, laid out as the Turtle, a Pyramid or a Fortress: take the tiles away two at a time - a free tile and another free tile with the same face; any flower goes with any flower and any season with any season. A tile is free when nothing lies on it and its left or its right side is open. Every deal can be cleared to the last tile. Take moves back, ask for a hint - it looks for a way to clear the whole table - have the free tiles marked, shuffle what is left when no pair is open, or watch the computer solve a deal.

Games

Darts

Darts at a clock board: 301, 501 or 701, taken down to exactly nothing, three darts a turn. Played to a double, the last dart has to land in the double ring or the bull, and a dart that takes the score past nothing, or to one, is a bust: the turn is over and the score goes back. The sight sways about the pointer like a hand that will not keep still - let the dart go when it crosses the bed you want. The computer's darts scatter about the point it aims at, less at each of its five levels, and it aims where its own hand does best: a beginner at the fat part of the board, a master at the treble twenty and the shortest way out. Play the computer or a friend, practise alone or watch a demo game; a hint shows where a hand like yours should aim.