That site has the 1928 date but where did that date come from? Do all the 1928 references trace back to the same source? And was that source significantly removed from the 20's and 30's in time?
I don't think I'm totally beyond being convinced that Chinese Checkers as we know it existed with that name or a similar one before 1935. I'd like to see more conclusive evidence though. Something concrete from the late 20's or early 30's. An early ad for "Hop Ching" maybe. Or maybe a Hop Ching set with 1928-1930's style game pieces. That would be awesome. Is that too much to ask? (lol)
Which game pieces would have been used in 1927 to 1931?
Whitman had wooden "marbles" in their multi-game box sets. I don't think those sets were all that old -- just inexpensive. But maybe someone else would know for sure.
I reduced them to about a third the size. VERY nice set of marbles. I'm going to move the thread to the main forum to get more input. I'll leave a link here though.
This might show up smaller than I reduced them too. Depending on how this displays on the monitor they might need to be clicked on once or twice to get the size I intended. (816 pixels across)
If they're too large they might not load. You can email them to me if you can't find a way to resize or otherwise get them to show. (Edit to add: I sent a PM with my email address.)