A star-board marble game against the computer

Ten glass marbles, a six-pointed star and long chains of hops: Star Marbles is the game in Games by Zaweba for anyone looking for this kind of race against the computer. You move all ten of your blue marbles from the bottom point into the point opposite before the computer fills its own. It's free and offline, with no adverts.

It's a race, but not a simple one. The fastest way across is to hop over other marbles, yours and the computer's, in chains that can cross half the board in one turn. Setting those chains up is the whole game.

How Star Marbles plays

Your ten blue marbles start in the bottom point of the star. Each turn you either step one marble into a next-door hole, or hop it over any marble into the empty hole straight beyond. Hops can chain as far as they go, so one marble might jump several times in a single turn. The first to fill the opposite point wins.

You can play against one computer or two. To move, click one of your marbles, then click a glowing hole. The glowing holes show every place that marble can reach, which makes long chains easy to spot. Star Marbles is on the Board games shelf.

Building ladders to hop along

Think of your marbles as stepping stones. A marble left in the right place lets the ones behind it hop forward in one go. Players often call this building a ladder: a line of marbles with gaps between them, so each hop lands just before the next marble.

Move the back marbles first. A marble left behind in your starting point will take many turns to catch up. Bringing the stragglers forward early, often by hopping them over the front ones, keeps the whole group moving.

Use the computer's marbles too. You can hop over any marble, not just your own. When the computer's marbles pass through the middle, they become stepping stones for you.

Check the glowing holes. Before settling for a single step, click each of your marbles and see where it can go. A chain you hadn't noticed often shows up.

Don't leave a gap in your home. Near the end, the last marble or two can be awkward to fit into the far point. Plan their route so they're not stuck waiting for a hole to open.

One computer or two

Against one computer, the middle of the board is fairly open, and the game is mostly about building your own ladders. Against two, the centre gets busier, with more marbles to hop over and more in your way. Trying both gives the game a different feel.

Pausing and records

Esc pauses the game, and it pauses itself if the window loses focus. F1 explains the rules and F11 makes the star fill the screen, which helps when you're counting holes. Games by Zaweba keeps your plays, wins and best score on the game's tile, in a file on your own PC.

Other games for marble fans

If you like the jumping in Star Marbles, Draughts has compulsory captures and multi-jumps on a wooden board. Marble Solitaire, on the Puzzles shelf, uses glass marbles too: jump and remove them until only one is left. For another race, Race Home is the cross-and-circle game with four tokens against three computer players.