FOX & GEESE

Traditional
These rules - 1982 Berlekamp, Conway & Guy

This version of the game (described in Winning Ways) is played on a 8x8 square board, with the following setup:


  • FOX - Moves diagonally to an adjacent empty cell.
  • GEESE - Moves diagonally forward to an adjacent empty cell. They start moving.
  • GOAL - Wins the player that made the last move.

After the Fox slips the Geese blocking line, the game is over, since the Geese will continue to move forward until they reach the board edge and arrive at a loosing stalemate.

An example

Geese's turn. To avoid the Fox escape, they must move g2-f3, and after the Fox go back one cell, move c2-d3, f3-g4 and e2-f3, whatever the Fox moves.

This initial setup is the best starting position for the Fox (according to WW). With perfect play, the Geese always win, but there are a lot of hidden traps out there, for the Fox to slip behind those dangerous birds (!).

Zillions come with 10 variants of this game. There is an hexagonal variant of this game, Nu, Pogodi . check also the older game  Fortress , Asalto and Foxhunt .

Many setups and pieces are possible using this idea. From the unequal game 2002 competition, here are two (I didn't find the author's names).

Church and State, where the church player's objective is to get one of his stones to the last rank of the board (they move like chess bishops). The state player's objective is to capture all of the church player's stones and prevent him from getting one of his bishops to the last rank.

Infantry Advance, where the Infantry wins if they move 4 pawns (they can move one space in forward direction only or can capture diagonally forward and backward) off the Calvary's side of the board. The Calvary (moving like Chess knights) wins if they capture 5 pawns or prevent the infantry from moving 4 pawns off of the board.

Another game in this family is Mandua.

Dragons and Swans, where the Swans (the white stones) wins if they stalemate the Dragons (the black stones) or loses if all are captured. Dragons move to an adjacent empty cell or jump over one Swan landing on the immediate empty cell (capturing it). Swans can only move to adjacent empty cells (no captures or jumps). Players alternate moves. At a first phase, on each turn, each Swan (there are twelve) is dropped on an empty cell until there are no Swans off-board (so, no Swan can move until all are dropped). There are no diagonal moves.

MOVES: All moves are horizontal or vertical, never diagonal.

DRAGONS try to capture the swans. A dragon either moves one square to an adjacent square or captures a swan by jumping over it to an empty square the other side.

SWANS try to surround the dragons so that the dragons are unable to move. Swans cannot jump or capture dragons.

START: The game starts with the four dragons at the corners of the board and no swans on the board.

PLAY: Swans start by placing one swan on a vacant square. Play alternates. A dragon must be moved when it is that player's turn. The swans are placed, one at each turn, in a vacant square and no swans can be moved until all the swans have been placed on the board. After that players take it in turns to move until either the dragon wins by capturing all the swans or the swans win by blocking in the dragons so they cannot move.

4 4 gegen 1 is a 1938 uncredited game by Spear Spiele including a Halma variant and a Fox'n'Geese with the following setup:

Check BGG for more information.