Tigers jump a goat in a straight line to eat it. Goats never capture - they win by blocking.
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About Bagh-Chal
Free online Bagh-Chal, the tigers and goats game from Nepal. Four tigers hunt twenty goats on a five-point grid. Play either side against an AI, or two players on one device.
Bagh-Chal means 'moving tigers' in Nepali, and it is the best known of the hunt games, a family found from India to Scandinavia in which the two players are not given matching armies. The tigers are far stronger piece for piece, but the goats have numbers and only need to build a wall. Beginners playing goats tend to scatter them, which feeds the tigers; experienced players clump goats into blocks that cannot be jumped and slowly squeeze the tigers into corners. Because the sides play so differently, it is worth trying both. Our AI will take either role, and two players can also pass one device back and forth.
Frequently asked questions
Which side is harder to play?＋
Goats, especially at first. A single loose goat next to a tiger with an empty point behind it is simply lost, so goats have to be placed as connected blocks rather than spread around the board.
Why can't my tiger jump diagonally there?＋
The board only has diagonal lines on some points, in the alquerque pattern. If no line is drawn between two points, no move or jump exists between them.
Can a tiger jump two goats at once?＋
No. Each jump clears exactly one goat and must land on the empty point immediately beyond it. There are no chained multi-jumps in Bagh-Chal.
Can goats capture tigers?＋
Never. Goats have no capture at all. Their entire game is placement and blocking, which is what makes the two sides feel so different.
What happens if the goats run out of moves?＋
If the goat player has no legal move on their turn, the tigers win. In practice this is rare, since goats usually keep at least one free point.
How many goats can I afford to lose?＋
Four. The fifth goat eaten ends the game in the tigers' favour, so every trade matters from the very first placement.