Bagh Chal

ETA: Date TBA Bagh Chalis a traditional abstract game that is popular in Nepal. The name roughly translates to “Tigers Moving”. It is an abstract strategy game with an asymmetric setup, i.e. a different number of pieces per side (likeHnefatafland its ilk). One opponent plays four tiger pieces and the other plays twenty goats. The board bears a passing resemblance to aChinese Chessboard in that the pieces move along lines from intersection to intersection. However, the gameplay is more similar toAlquerque,CheckersorDraughts. At the start of the game, there are four tigers on the board while there are no goats. The goat player places hisher pieces on the board one by one wherever they choose, with the tiger player getting a move between each placing. Once all the goats are on the board, the two players take turns moving one of their pieces one space. A tiger can alternatively capture a single goat by jumping over it in a line to an empty space. The tigers win if they can capture five goats. The goal for the goats (who cannot make captures) is to hem the tigers in, giving them no opportunity to move or jump. It is one variant from a family of similar Asian games played with varying numbers of tigersleopardsgoatscowsetc and varying board topologies.See alsoCows and LeopardsandFox and Geese. Games played on exactly the same board layout (same lines connecting the intersections and same size) include the traditional SpanishAlquerqueand Fanoron-Dimy, the smaller variant ofFanoronafrom Madagascar. See the according image galleries of these games.