Sher-bakar

Opening Position

Alternate Names

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

An Alquerque board, two black “tiger” counters and nineteen white stackable “goat” counters are required for play.

History

This game is played in Punjab, India.

Objective

The goats win if they blockade the tigers in so that they are unable to make a legal move. The tigers win if they manage to capture all of the goats, or enough of them to make their objective impossible.

Play

The game commences with the counters positioned as above. The white goat counters are initially arranged in four stacks of five each and one stack of four. Turns alternate and the goats move first. On a turn, any single counter of either color may move along a line to an adjacent vacant intersection. A stack of more than one goat counter, however, may not move as a whole and the counters constituting it must be moved one by one on a turn. Once leaving the stack, however, the goats may not be restacked. The tigers may also jump over a goat or a stack of goats in a straight line to a vacant position just beyond, capturing that single goat or the top counter of the goat pile. A tiger may have multiple enchained jump-and-capture moves in one turn, changing direction after each jump if desired. The tiger may not, however, jump over the same stack of goats more than once per turn. Captures by a tiger counter are compulsory to the degree that the goat player may insist that the tiger jump a designated counter, but if given a choice of goats to jump, the tiger player may decide which to take. The goats may not jump tigers, but may capture them by hemming them into a position where they cannot move. A captured goat or tiger counter is removed from the board for the rest of the game.

Being that the forces are unequal in this game, it is custom to play an even number of games in one contest between players, alternating who controls the tigers.

Strategy

The tiger player probably has a considerable advantage in this game and thus the more experienced player will typically play goats.

Variations

In order for the goat player to have a more balanced game, the tiger’s jumps are occasionally restricted allowing it only one capture per turn. This game is nearly identical with the game Bagh Bandi from Lower Bengal, India in all but the number of goat counters and the opening position.

Sources