Fox & Geese (Checkerboard)
The opening position shown above is one commonly used, although the fox counter (black here) is often given the liberty to start on any of the four black squares in his own back row.
Alternate Names
Fox & Hounds, Wolf & Sheep, Devil & Tailors, Vargen och Fären (Sweden), Koti Keliya. The (presumed) predecessor to this game, Fox & Geese, carries the same name but is quite a bit different as it is played on a different board with capturing moves allowed by the fox.
No. of Players
Two
Equipment
An 8 x 8 Checkerboard, one black, and four white counters are required for play.
History
The exact origin of this game is not known although it is almost assuredly European and probably German or Scandinavian.
Objective
The player controlling the four geese wins if they manage to block the fox from moving. The fox wins if he manages to traverse to the back row of the opposite side. The geese may also win if they manage to traverse all four counters to their back row before the fox reaches his.
Play
Turns alternate with the fox moving first. The four geese may only move diagonally forwards one step at a time. The fox also only moves one step diagonally at a time, but it may move forwards or backwards. Thus, all counters are confined to the black squares. There is no jumping or capturing.
Strategy
Variations
In the island country of Sri Lanka the game is played on the same board with which they use for checkers, the 12x12 checkered board. In France, it is played on the Polish Draughts board of 10x10 checkered squares. Both versions have to add geese in order to fill the back row (five geese for the Polish board and six geese for the Sri Lanka variety). Otherwise, all of the same rules apply.
A very similar variation called The Fox and the Hounds is played on the dark squares of the 8 x 8 checkerboard with the board rotated 45 degrees using the initial setup shown. The Fox always goes first. The Fox may move one dark square forward towards the Hounds original starting corner, or left, or right, or backward towards its original starting corner. A Hound may move one dark square forward towards the original starting position of the Fox, or left, or right. A Hound may not retreat backwards in the direction of its starting corner. If the Fox can get past the Hounds to the Hounds' original starting corner, then the Fox wins. The Hounds win by trapping the the Fox so that it cannot move. Note that the Hounds in this game have more mobility than the Geese in the standard variation. Here, a hound counter may have up to three potential directions to move on a turn, whereas a goose counter would never have more than two potential directions to move. Also, the winning objective is more specific for the Fox in this variation. Now, the Fox must obtain the cell at the farthest corner of the board, as opposed to any of four cells in the back row.
Sources
Pentagames. Compiled by Pentagram. 1990. Fireside, Simon & Schuster Inc. ISBN 0-671-72529-7.