The game of Fox and Geese begins with one fox and thirteen geese, as shown on the left. The aim for the geese is to trap the fox in a position where it cannot move, while the aim for the fox is to take enough geese to make this impossible.
The fox is able to move along any line on the board,
including diagonals, and is able to jump over geese-just as in checkers-removing
them from the board. As in checkers, multiple jumps are allowed.
The geese are able to move only along perpendicular lines, not diagonal.
Geese are not able to jump the fox, they must try to trap it.
It usually takes seven or eight geese to trap the fox, but it is theoretically possible with four. The game is over when there are less than four geese left on the board, or when the fox is unable to move.
There is a variation of this game in which the geese are also allowed to move along the diagonal lines. This makes life a lot easier for the geese, and it is a perfectly valid variant of the game.
Although some people know this game as halatafl,
that is actually a different game.
