Tiger and Buffaloes
The game commences with the board vacant of counters.
Alternate Names
The Tiger Game
No. of Players
Two
Equipment
A 4x4 square grid, three black “tiger” counters and eleven white "buffalo” counters are required for play. Counters are played at the intersections of the board.
History
This game is from Myanmar (formerly called Burma).
Objective
The buffaloes win by hemming in the tigers so that they are unable to make a legal move. The tigers win by capturing enough buffaloes to make their objective impossible.
Play
Counters are played at the intersections of the board in this game. The game commences with the board vacant of counters. The first stage of the game is the Drop phase with players alternating turns. In the first move, four buffaloes are placed on any vacant points on the board. Then the Tiger player places one tiger on any vacant point. Then the Buffalo player places four more of his own counters at any vacant intersection of the board. Next, the Tiger player places another tiger counter onto any vacant intersection. Then, the Buffalo player places its last three buffaloes on any vacant intersection. Lastly, the Tiger player places its last tiger onto any vacant intersection.
The next stage is the Movement phase. Now, the Buffaloes move first. Players alternate their turns moving one of their own counters. Both tiger and buffalo counters may move (in any direction) along a marked line onto a vacant adjacent intersection. There are only orthogonal lines on the board, and therefore all moves are orthogonal (right, left, forward, backward). A tiger counter may also capture an adjacent buffalo by an orthogonal short jump to a necessarily vacant intersection just beyond. The captured buffalo counter is removed from the board for the rest of the game.
There are no official rules dictating if multiple jump and capture moves are allowed or if jump and capture moves are compulsory, so these rules will have to be formulated and agreed upon by both players prior to gameplay.
Strategy
Variations
Sources