Bagh Chal Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Play
  • Beginning the Game
  • Placement and Movement
  • Eating the Goats
  • Ending the Game

How to Play

Bagh Chal is played on the alquerque board by two players. One has four tigers, while the other has twenty goats. Henceforth they will be called the tiger player and the goat player.

The board is a five-by-five grid of points connected by orthogonal lines, with diagonal lines crossing each of the four large squares, and further diagonals connecting the midpoints of the sides. Every line on the board is a path a piece may move along.

Beginning the Game

1. The game begins with four tigers on the board, one in each corner.
2. The twenty goats are kept in hand by the player who has taken their side.
3. The goat player takes the first turn.

Placement and Movement

4. If the goat player has goats in hand, he must use his turn to place one on any empty point on the board.
5. If the goat player has placed all the goats, then he must instead use his turn to move one of the goats from its current position, along a marked line in any direction, to an adjacent empty point.
6. The tiger player in his turn may move a tiger from its current position, along a marked line in any direction, to an adjacent empty point.
7. Only one piece may occupy a point at any one time; stacking of pieces is not allowed.

Eating the Goats

8. A tiger may sometimes capture, or eat, a goat, instead of moving as described in rule 6.
9. To eat a goat, the tiger player must jump with one of his tigers along a marked line, over an adjacent goat, to an empty point beyond. The goat is then removed from the board and takes no further part in play.
10. The tiger may not change direction in the middle of its jump. A goat is only in danger of being eaten if on one side it has a tiger, and on the other an empty space.
11. Only one goat may be eaten in any one turn. Multiple jumps are not allowed.

Ending the Game

12. The tiger player wins when his tigers have eaten five goats.
13. The goat player wins if the tigers are trapped and the tiger player has no legal move.