Fox and Geese Board Game

An old hunt game for two players with uneven armies: one fox against a flock of geese. The fox jumps and captures; the geese cannot capture at all, but together they can corner the fox so it has nowhere left to go.

How to play Fox and Geese Board Game

• The board is a cross of 33 points joined by lines. Every point has straight lines to its neighbours, and every other point also has diagonal lines.
• The geese start at the top of the cross and the fox starts below them. The geese move first, then the two sides take turns.
• Geese move one step along a line to an empty point — down or sideways, never back up the board. Geese never capture.
• The fox moves one step along a line in any direction. It captures by jumping over a goose next to it to the empty point straight beyond, along the same line. Captured geese leave the board. After a jump the fox may keep jumping in the same turn, and capturing is never compulsory.
• The geese win when the fox has no legal move. The fox wins when fewer than six geese are left, or if the geese have no legal move.
• If the very same position comes up three times, the game is drawn.

Controls

• Tap a piece to see where it can go, then tap a highlighted point. A red ring marks a jump that captures.
• Keyboard: press Tab to reach a piece, Enter to select it, then Tab to a target and Enter again.
• Pick Play the geese or Play the fox, choose 13 or 17 geese, and use Undo to take a move back.

Tips

• Geese: move as a solid wall. A goose is safe when the point behind it is filled, because the fox needs an empty landing point.
• Geese: never leave a goose behind the fox — geese cannot move back up the board, so it is out of the fight.
• Fox: stay in the open middle of the cross. Arms of the cross are dead ends where a few geese can shut you in.
• Fox: look for double jumps and for moves that threaten two geese at once — the geese can only protect one.

FAQ

How do you play fox and geese?

One player moves the fox, the other the geese. Geese step down or sideways along the lines; the fox steps in any direction and captures by jumping over a goose to an empty point beyond. The geese try to trap the fox, and the fox tries to capture enough geese that trapping becomes impossible.

Who usually wins fox and geese?

With 13 geese and careful play the geese should win, because they can build a wall the fox cannot jump. One loose goose is often enough to let the fox through, so the game punishes small mistakes. The 17-goose version makes the geese stronger still.

Can the fox capture more than one goose in a turn?

Yes. After a jump, if another goose sits next to the fox with an empty point beyond it, the fox may jump again in the same turn, in any direction along the lines.

Do the geese have to move forward?

Geese may move down the board or sideways, but never back toward the side they started on. That is why a goose that slips past the fox is usually wasted.

Is capturing compulsory?

No. In this version the fox may choose a quiet move instead of a jump, and may stop a chain of jumps early.