Come Out and Play – Tiger Gamer
Bagh-Chal is the national game of Nepal. It is a very old strategy game that was originally created by Himalayan herders. The name of the game can be roughly translated to “Moving Tiger” and it mimics the daily work of the herders. It is played by two players with unequal forces. One player controls 20 goats and the other controls four tigers. The goats try to block the tigers and the tigers must hunt and capture five goats to win. It has been played for thousands of years often on a specialized board or just with pebbles and lines scratched into the dirt. Like checkers or chess it is a classic game of strategy played between two people while others look on and cheer. Here’s how to play:
Tiger Gamer (Bagh-Chal Board Game)
• First draw a board on a sheet of paper or poster board.
• Mark 20 tokens as goats (they could be pebbles or coins or anything small).
• Mark 4 tokens as tigers.
• Flip a coin to decide who will be tigers and who will be goats.
• To set up the board place 4 tigers on the corner points.
• No goats should start on the board.
• Tigers must capture 5 goats to win.
• Goats win if the tigers can no longer move.
• Goats begin the game and then players take turns.
• Here is how the tigers move: They can only capture one goat at a time, they can jump in any direction, but it must follow lines on the board, to another point, tigers can’t jump another tiger, tigers are never removed from the board.
• Here is how the goats are allowed to move: They must leave the board when they are captured (tigers jump over them), they can’t jump over anything, they can only move after all 20 goats have been placed on the board.
• Only one goat can be placed on the board at a time.
• Goats must be placed on an empty point.
• Players cannot repeat movements.
• Games usually take around an hour.
• Tigers are not required to capture (jump over) a goat.