STORY
Chinese Checkers is a conversion of the classic board game, and it was made by ImagiSOFT in 1991. You compete against up to 5 other players, which can be a mixture of friends and the computer.

The idea is to get all your coloured balls across to the opposite side of the board before your opponent does. The first one to do this is the winner. The section you are aiming to get your balls into is marked with 2 small stars of your colour.

This version has some handy features, in case you are stuck. 'HINT' - if you get stuck and cannot see any way to move, this will help you out and show you where you can move. 'UNDO' - if you have made a move but change your mind and want to move a different ball, this will undo your last move.

GAMEPLAY
You start with the player selection screen. Choose which colour \ icon you want to play as, and then decide on your opponents. The game needs between 2 and 5 players, and you can choose to play against the computer or play against friends.

Options are shown down the right (Help, Hint, New, Load, Save, Undo, Quit), and you can either click on these buttons or press the relevant Function Key. As I said earlier, 'Hint' shows you a possible move, and 'Undo' will simply undo your last move. The bottom right shows the colour \ icon that is currently playing.

Each icon takes their turn. Choose which coloured ball you would like to move and then click on it (a small 'x' appears on that ball). You can move the ball to an empty adjacent space by clicking on that empty space, or you can jump over other balls (like leapfrog) that are in your way. It doesn't matter if these balls are a different colour to yours. If you are skillful enough, you can make several leaps in one shot.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are nice and colourful.  Each icon is animated, and moves when it is their turn. The board itself has some Chinese pictures on it, which look really nice. The balls seem to jump up towards you as they are moving.   

MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS
The sound is nice, but nothing spectacular. You can hear the balls 'clink' into place as you move them. If you accidentally click in the wrong place, you will hear some Chinese music, and your host will tell you what you have done wrong.

COMPATIBILTY
The game works fine under DosBox or VDM Sound.
It also works under Windows XP, but with no sound.

SUMMARY
This is a nice, fun game either playing on your own or playing with friends. It does get quite repetitive after a while though. A good game if you have some time to kill.

TECHNICAL NOTES
The game comes as a self-extracting file. Double-click to open, and use the password Master (capital M is important) when prompted.

DO NOT use the Setup file. Instead, use CHINESE.EXE to start the game.