Bagh-Chal

Bagh Chal

Empty Bagh-Chal board
Players	2
Age range	Any
Setup time	< 1 min
Playing time	< 1 hour
Random chance	None
Skill(s) required	Strategy

Bagh-Chal (Nepali:  बाघ चाल bāgh cāl, Newari:धुँ कासा dhun kasa meaning "Tiger game", ) is a strategic, two-player board game that originates in Nepal. The game is asymmetric in that one player controls four tigers and the other player controls up to twenty goats. The tigers 'hunt' the goats while the goats attempt to block the tigers' movements.

This game is also seen in southern India with different board but the rules are same. The game is played on a five by five point grid, like alquerque (an ancestor of draughts or checkers). Pieces are positioned at the intersection of the lines and not inside the areas delimited by them. Directions of valid movement between these points are connected by lines. The game play takes place in two phases. In the first phase the goats are placed on the board while the tigers are moved. In the second phase both the goats and the tigers are moved. For the tigers, the objective is to "capture" five goats to win. Capturing is performed as in alquerque and draughts, by jumping over the goats, although capturing is not obligatory. The goats win by blocking all the tigers' legal moves. It has many similarities to the Indian game Aadu puli attam (goat-tiger game), though the board is different.

At the start of the game all four tigers are placed on the four corners of the grid, facing the center. No goats are placed on the board during the initial setup.

The player controlling the goats moves first, by placing a goat onto a free intersection on the board. Tigers may move along the lines from one intersection to another. Once all of the goats have been placed on the board, goats must move in the same fashion as the tigers, one intersection to another. Moves alternate between players.