 Board with "camps" marked for two players (blue) and four players (red) | |
| Years active | 1883/84 to present |
|---|---|
| Genres | |
| Players | 2 or 4 |
| Setup time | ~1 minute |
| Playing time | 10 minutes to 1 or more hours |
| Chance | None |
| Skills | Strategy, tactics |
Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game Hoppity which was devised in 1854.[1]
The gameboard is checkered and divided into 16×16 squares. Pieces may be small checkers or counters, or wooden or plastic cones or men resembling small chess pawns.[2] Piece colors are typically black and white for two-player games, and various colors or other distinction in games for four players.
- ^ Brian Love, Great Board Games, London, (1979), p. 5
- ^ Diagram Group (1975), p. 42