Playing Chinese Checkers With My Grandpa
Photo by Donna Campbell Smith Playing Chinese checkers with my Grandpa as a little girl is one of my fondest memories. I remember we sat on the floor in the parlor with the board between us. We picked our marble colors and lined them up in opposite triangles on the board and the game began. Pom Pom was a patient teacher. Playing Chinese Checkers with him was a favorite pastime whenever my family traveled from our North Carolina home to upstate New York, Daddy’s home place. The Chinese Checkerboard was made of tin and very colorful. The board had square base with a circular top that turned and revealed a storage space underneath for the marbles – ten of each six colors – red, black, white, yellow, blue, and green. My favorite was probably blue and I seem to remember Pom Pom always chose black. Within the circle was the playing field, a six pointed star. The points of the star were triangles and each had ten holes for the marbles to rest. The object of the game was to be fir