Main Tapal Empat

There are many possible opening positions utilized in this game.

Only the black counters begin the game on the board, and they are only required to be on any two intersections of the central square of the board

Alternate Names

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

An Alquerque board, two black counters representing tigers and eighteen white counters representing goats are required for play.

History

This game originates from the Malay Peninsula.

Objective

The objective of the goats is to immobilize the tigers so that they can't make any legal move. The tigers try to reduce the number of goats enough so that they are unable to do so. Typically, the goat player will give up when they have ten goat counters or less left as it takes several goats to successfully immobilize a tiger.

Play

The opening position shown above is not the only one that can be used. The rules allow the two black tigers to be placed on any two positions of the central square of the board at the start of the game. After that, turns alternate. On the goat player’s (here, white) turn, they enter one goat onto the board at any vacant intersection on the board. None of the goats can move until all eighteen of them have been placed on the board. On the tiger player’s turn, they may move one tiger any distance in any direction along a line to a vacant intersection or they make a short jump over an adjacent goat counter to capture and remove it from the board. Tigers may move right from the beginning of the game and start capturing the goats. The tigers' short jump may only be made along one of the lines on the board. Only the tigers may capture by short jump. Tigers may only capture one goat per turn and capture is not compulsory. Once all goat counters have been entered they too may start to move, but the goats can only move one space at a time along a line to an adjacent vacant intersection in any direction.

Sources