13 Geese
Fox and Geese, classic version
13 Geese
Introduction
This is "Fox and Geese" played on
the classical board pattern that presumably originates from the medieval
Alquerque board. According to
Fox and Geese boards from the 14th century have been
excavated in England and Italy. Later, in Edward IV:s accounts (he was king of
England in 1461-83) there is mention of "two foxis and 26 hounds of silver
overgilt," that is, two complete Fox and Geese games (although, evidently,
it was named "Fox and Hounds" at that time). Fox and Geese has been
classified as a Viking game, but it is not certain that the Vikings ever played
this game.
In Gloucester Cathedral, according to Murray, there are
several Fox and Geese boards incised on the stone seats. From the well in
Norwich castle was retrieved a game scratched on a flat stone. Board etchings
also occur in the cloisters of San Paolo, Rome.
A later royal Fox
and Geese enthusiast was queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901). She
used to play this game with her princely consort Albert. The most original form
is the one where the Geese can also move backwards and their number is merely 13
(see image above), although this is perhaps not the best version. (Cf. Grunfeld:
'Games of the World', 1975).
Rules and strategy
In the Classic version the pieces are
obliged to follow the pattern on the board. The objective of the Fox is to catch
as many Geese as possible so they can't close him in. The Fox moves to any
empty, adjacent hole. If an adjacent hole is occupied by a Goose and the hole
directly behind is vacant, then the Fox must jump over it and capture it, as in
Checkers. Several Geese may be captured like this in a single turn.
In
the 15 Geese version (below) the Geese are not allowed to move backwards, but
can move along both diagonals and orthogonals. In the 17 Geese versions, the
Geese can only move orthogonally (but not backwards). As the Geese cannot move
backwards in these versions, the Geese player cannot allow the Fox to get behind
the line of Geese. The Geese player should try to carefully home in on the Fox
without sacrificing Geese thoughtlessly. Possibly, a goose could be sacrificed
to lure the Fox into a trap. The Fox wins if there are 5 or less Geese left,
when it should be impossible to imprison the fox.
15 Geese
17 Geese (French setup)
17 Geese (English setup)
Addendum
In the versions where the Geese can only move
forwards (15- and 17-versions) a draw is achieved if the Fox reaches the last
rank behind the Geese. I added this rule since it improves the program's play
considerably. Normally it should be a draw anyway since the Geese cannot move
backwards in these variations. Perhaps this makes it slightly harder to win with
the Geese since there is a slight possibility of catching the Fox behind the
Geese. But removing this possibility only improves this unbalanced game. A draw
is also generated if the Geese occupies the three positions on the first rank.
This is to discourage the program from thoughtlessly dropping his pieces to the
first rank (when the Fox is behind the line). This rule shouldn't affect the
game while the Geese will always play for a win.
You can download my free Fox_Classic program here, but you must own the software Zillions of Games to be able to run it (I recommend the download version).
© M. Winther 2005
