बाघचाल

Bagh-Chal

Nepal's game of moving tigers. Four tigers hunt, twenty goats try to hem them in.

Your move

Bagh-Chal

Tigers win by capturing 5 goats. Goats win by trapping all 4 tigers. Pick your side:

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20to place

0/5captured

0/4trapped

Game menu

You play

Opponent strength

Goats still to place20

Goats captured (tigers need 5)0 / 5

Tigers trapped (goats need all 4)0 / 4

How to play

Goats move first. They enter one at a time on any empty point until all 20 are on the board. Only then can goats slide.
Every piece moves one step along a drawn line to a neighboring empty point.
Tigers capture by jumping over a single goat to the empty point directly beyond it, in a straight line.
Tigers win by capturing five goats. Goats win when no tiger can move.
A position repeated three times is a draw.

About Bagh-Chal

Bagh-Chal (बाघ चाल, "moving tigers") comes from Nepal, where it is still a favourite in villages and at family gatherings during Dashain. In Newar it is called dhun kasa, the tiger game.

It is a hunt game: the two sides have different pieces and different goals. The tigers try to break through by jumping goats; the goats can't capture at all and win only by working together to leave the tigers no move. A close relative from southern India, aadu puli attam ("lambs and tigers"), uses a different board. Bagh-Chal has also been solved by computer analysis.

Want to get better? Read how to play Bagh-Chal, with tips for tigers and goats, or see the other games Nepal plays at Dashain.

Rules follow the traditional game described on Wikipedia.