Rules
Bagh Chal is a traditional two-player board game from Nepal. One player has four tigers, the other has twenty goats. The tigers hunt; the goats try to hem them in.
The board
The board is a 5x5 grid of points joined by lines. Every point is linked to its neighbours across and down. The centre point, the corners and every other point in a chequered pattern also have diagonal lines. Pieces only ever move along lines.
Setup
The four tigers start on the four corners. The twenty goats start off the board, in hand. The goats move first.
Moves
- Goats, placement: while goats are still in hand, a goat turn places one goat on any empty point. Goats cannot move until all 20 are on the board.
- Goats, movement: after that, a goat turn moves one goat one step along a line to an empty point.
- Tigers: a tiger turn moves one tiger one step along a line, or jumps over a single adjacent goat in a straight line to the empty point just beyond it. The jumped goat is captured. Only one jump per turn.
Winning
- The tigers win when they have captured 5 goats.
- The goats win when no tiger can move.
The double-board final
On The Devil’s Plan the final was played on two boards at once. Each player is goats on one board and tigers on the other. Two moves are made on the left board (one by each player), then two on the right, and so on. Whoever wins either board first wins the whole match.
Our version
- Two modes. Double board is the show’s final. Classic is one board, where you choose goats or tigers.
- Turn order in the final. You have the goats on the left board and the tigers on the right. You move first on both boards, so on the right board the tigers move first. Moves alternate between you and your opponent all game: left, left, right, right.
- Timer. 60 seconds per move (the show used 90). Running out of time loses the match.
- Stuck goats lose. If the goats have no legal move, the tigers win that board. Trapped tigers lose, as usual.
- Draws. A board reaches its limit after 200 moves (both sides counted) and is drawn. In the final, a drawn board drops out and play continues on the other board alone; if both are drawn, the match is a draw.
- Online. In a room the host takes the goats on the left board in the final, and the side picked in the options in the classic game. The opponent gets the other side.
- Helpers. Move highlights (on by default) mark where the selected piece can go and ring any goat a tiger can take on its next move. Turn them off in Settings to read the board yourself.
- AI. Easy looks one move ahead and sometimes plays at random. Medium looks three moves ahead, hard five, weighing captures, goats under threat, tiger mobility and trapped tigers.
Sources: fan analyses of the show.
Strategy
Goats: protect the edges first. A goat on the edge cannot be jumped from outside the board. Build from the edges and corners inward, and never leave an empty point directly behind a goat in line with a tiger.
Goats: place in pairs. A goat is safe when the point behind it, on every line a tiger could use, is occupied. Two goats side by side cover each other along that line.
Goats: patience wins. The goats only need to avoid five losses. Once all twenty are down with few captures, slowly shrink the tigers’ space until they have no move.
Tigers: stay spread out. Tigers bunched together block each other. Keep them apart so the goats must defend several areas at once.
Tigers: fork. A move that threatens two goats at once usually wins one of them, since the goats can only cover one threat per turn.
Double board: watch both boards. You can attack on one board while you defend on the other. A board where you are close to winning is worth more than a careful position elsewhere, as one win ends the match.