Fox & Geese

There are several different opening positions and several different boards used for Fox & Geese. The opening position for the last board is not known but could easily be improvised.

Alternate Names

Hala-tafl, (Fox Game, Iceland), Tod & Lambs (Tod = Fox, England), Fuchs und Gänse (Fox & Geese, German), Fuchs und Hühne (Fox & Hens, German), Renard et les Poules (Fox & Hens, French), Pon Chochoti (Coyote & Chickens, Mexico and Aizona), Lupo e Pecore (Wolf & Sheep, Italian), Refskak (Iceland), Rävspelet (The Fox Game, Swedish), Räfspel (Sweden), Volki Ovtsy (Wolf & Sheep, Russian), Musinaykahwhan-metowaywin (Playing Leader, Cree and Chippewa Indians of Canada), Shaap en wolf (Holland).

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

Numerous boards have been used for this game, a few of which are listed here:

Board Indexed

Also required are between twelve and twenty-two “geese” counters, depending the variety of the game chosen to play, and one or two “fox” counters of a different color, often larger.

History

Fox and Geese games probably originate from Scandinavia during the Middle-Ages. Hala-tafl is mentioned in the Icelandic Grettis Saga believed to have been written after AD 1300 by a priest living in the North of the country.

Objective

The objective of the geese player is to immobilize the fox or foxes. The objective of the fox player is to capture enough geese so that this is not possible for them to win.

Play

Strategy

Variations

This game is a widespread folk game and has many variations. Many of the variations seem to be derived in attempts to balance forces between the two players as the geese originally had a much easier win. The many variations entail different boards, opening positions, numbers of geese and foxes, and different rules for movement of the counters. Nonetheless, a common thread is maintained throughout all variations enough to denote all of them Fox & Geese, albeit a highly variable folk game. Above are shown all the different boards and opening positions I have encountered in the literature, but any of the following additional rules and adjustments may be applied to any of these games, given that both players agree prior to commencing the game.

1. The fox may choose any opening position desired, provided that it is not one occupied by a goose.

2. The geese may not move backwards; only sideways, diagonally forward or orthogonally forward. This rule will work better with games commencing with larger amounts of geese (positions C or B on board 2).

3. Capturing is compulsory for the fox. Failure by the fox to capture a goose when able to do so allows the goose player to introduce a new goose to the board on the subsequent turn.

Literature as old as 17th century refers to larger boards commencing with two, three, or four foxes and as many fifty geese, but details of these games are mostly unknown. Opening position A on board 2 is used for Musinaykahwhan-metowaywin. Opening positions D and E on board 2 are German games called Dogs & Bears and Ritterspiel (Knight’s Game) respectively, from Parlett (2), who in turn cites Glonneger’s Das Spiel Buch. It seems Double and Treble fox games such as these opened the door for the later game of Asalto, which is more oriented towards military tactics than hunting tactics.

Sources

1. Provenzo, Asterie Baker and Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. Play It Again, Historic Board Games You Can Make and Play. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981. ISBN 0-13-683367-5

2. Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999