Hunt Games
These are games in which one piece, or a small number of pieces, forms the prey, and a larger number of pieces are the hunters. Because of this imbalance, the prey is often more powerful or more agile than the hunters. For example, a tiger may be able to eat the hunters, while the hunters can only immobilise the tiger. Another example is where the prey is more agile than the hunters, and can win the game by making its escape.
Alea Evangelii
An enigmatic variant of the Viking game hnefatafl, alea evangelii was recorded in the 12th century and said to be played at the court of the 10th century English king Athelstan. In hnefatafl games, the king tries to escape from the board with the help of his defenders, while twice as many attackers try to capture him. Alea evangelii is the biggest of these games ever recorded, being played with 73 pieces on a board of 19x19 playing spaces. ... (read more...)
Asalto
Asalto is a hunt game from 19th-century Europe. It uses a cross-shaped board of 33 points, with one of the arms of the cross marked out as a fortress. Two loyal officers man the fortress, and they try to fend of 24 invading rebels who are trying to trap them. A number of variations were made on this game. German Tactics restricted the movement of the rebels. Officers & Sepoys enlarged the board to accommodate fifty rebels and three ... (read more...)
Bagh Chal
Bagh Chal is an ancient hunt board game from Nepal. Its name means "moving tigers", and is played by two players, one controlling four tigers, the other controlling twenty goats. The four tigers must eat five of the goats, but the goats must trap the tigers. Some have called bagh chal the national game of Nepal. History of Bagh Chal It is said that the game is a thousand years old. Some sources say the game originated ... (read more...)
Bagh Guti
Bagh Guti is a hunt game played on a square board. Two tigers come face to face with twenty goats. What makes this game unusual is that the goats begin the game stacked up on four points; most games of this type do not allow stacking. The tigers in this game have to eat the goats, while the goats have to block the tigers preventing them from moving. History of Bagh Guti There is a large and varied class ... (read more...)
Brandub
Brandub is a game of the hnefatafl family, played by the Irish. It is the smallest known hnefatafl game. A king and four defenders face eight attackers on a board of seven rows of seven points. The king must escape to one of the corner squares, while the attackers must capture the king. All pieces move in straight lines like the rook in chess, and capture an enemy by surrounding it on two opposite sides. History of Brandub History ... (read more...)
Catch the Hare
Catch the Hare is an early European hunt game from Spain. One side controls an unusually agressive hare, which can move around the board at will and jump over the hunters to capture them. The hunters cannot capture in the same way, but move so as to block the hare from moving or jumping. If the hare is immobilised, the hunters win; if the hunters are reduced to untenable numbers, the hare wins. History of Catch the Hare Hunt ... (read more...)
Fox & Geese
Fox & geese is a hunt game from northern Europe. It was popular in Scandinavia and the British Isles, though examples and modifications have been played historically throughout Europe, the game eventually spreading to North America and being adopted by the native Americans. The game is played on a cross-shaped board, known to modern players as a peg solitaire board. Thirteen geese must trap a fox on this board, while the fox attempts to capture enough geese to prevent ... (read more...)
Hare & Hounds
Hare & hounds is the smallest and most simple of all the hunt games. Also called the French Military Game, it is played on a board of eleven points, connected together by lines. On the board three hounds try to trap one hare. The hare may move in any direction, while the hounds may move only forwards. The hare wins by getting past the hounds, the hounds by trapping the hare. History of Hare & Hounds The game seems ... (read more...)
Hat Diviyan Keliya
Hat diviyan keliya is a hunt game from Sri Lanka. It is played on a simple triangular board of ten points. One player has a tiger, and the other has seven leopards who are used to hunt the tiger. The leopard player must trap the tiger so that it cannot move; the tiger player must kill enough leopards to make their task impossible. History of Len Choa and Hat Diviyan Keliya In the far east, there are a number ... (read more...)
Hnefatafl
The game of hnefatafl is unusual in having two differing sides. One, with the king at its head, has a number of guards with whose help the king must escape from the board. The other side is twice as numerous, and must capture the king before he makes his escape. It differs from traditional hunt games in that the king himself, though prey, has an army of his own, each defending piece having the same powers of movement and ... (read more...)
Len Choa
Len choa is a hunt game from Thailand. It is played on a simple triangular board of ten points. One player has a tiger, and the other has six leopards who are used to hunt the tiger. The leopard player must trap the tiger so that it cannot move; the tiger player must kill enough leopards to make their task impossible. History of Len Choa and Hat Diviyan Keliya In the far east, there are a number of hunt ... (read more...)
Meurimüeng Rimüeng Do
In a game from Sumatra with the challenging name of meurimüeng-rimüeng-do, five tigers face fifteen sheep on a board which is triangular with lateral extensions. It is a hunt game: the sheep try to hem in the tigers while the tigers try to capture the sheep. The sheep are successful if the tigers cannot move, while the tigers win if there are too few sheep to trap them. History of Meurimüeng Rimüeng Do Hunt games played on triangular boards ... (read more...)
Pulijudam
The Tiger Game, or Tigers and Lambs, is a game played in India where it is known as pulijudam. The board is roughly triangular, and fifteen lambs attempt to trap three tigers by hemming them in so they cannot move. The tigers have the power to devour the lambs, though, so the hunt will not be an easy one. History of Pulijudam and Rafaya Throughout southeast Asia there are a number of “hunt” games played on triangular boards. Two ... (read more...)
Rafaya
This Indian game, called demala diviyan keliya in Sri Lanka, pits three tigers against fifteen dogs. Its board is shaped like a triangle with arms projecting from two of the sides. The tigers have to kill the dogs, while the dogs have to blockade the tigers so that they cannot move. It is played in much the same way as the smaller game pulijudam. History of Pulijudam and Rafaya Throughout southeast Asia there are a number of “hunt” games ... (read more...)
Tablut
Tablut is a hybrid hunt/war game from Lapland. It is one of many variants of the old Norse game of hnefatafl, played throughout Northern Europe. A king attempts to escape from the board with the help of eight defenders. Sixteen attackers attempt to capture him. History of Tablut In 1732, the famous Swedish botanist Linnaeus took a tour of Lapland, keeping a journal of all that interested him. Among the non-botanical observations that he included in this journal were ... (read more...)
Tawlbwrdd
Tawlbwrdd (pronounced something like towel-boorth) is a Welsh game, a member of the hnefatafl family of games introduced to the British Isles by the Vikings. These games are unusual among traditional games, in that the sides are unequal and the objectives different. A king and a group of loyal defenders occupy the centre of the board, and around the edges are twice their number of rebellious attackers. The object of the game for the king's side is to get ... (read more...)
Comments