Fox and Geese

About Fox and Geese

Fox and Geese is the great medieval hunt game, played on the cross board against the Drover: one fox with the leap against seventeen geese with the numbers. Herd the fox into a corner he cannot leave, or thin the flock until no pen can ever close. Play either side, solo or live at the open tables, free in your browser, no ads, no sign-up.

How to play

Pieces move point to point along the drawn lines — every orthogonal, and the diagonals where the web runs. The fox steps any way, or leaps an adjacent goose to the empty point beyond, chaining leap on leap and stopping when he pleases; leaps are his right, never his duty. The geese step down the board or sideways, never back. The geese win by pinning the fox moveless; the fox wins when the flock is thinned below six. And the hunt is the flock’s to finish: a position repeated three times, or a hunt run past three hundred moves, means the pen never closed — the fox slips away with the day. There are no draws.

Controls

• Tap or click a piecePick it up
• Tap a marked pointStep or leap there

Tips

As the geese, move as a wall: a goose is only safe when the point beyond her is filled, and every gap in the line is a leap waiting to happen. Herd the fox toward an arm of the cross and close it behind him. As the fox, never take the bait goose that opens the pen — count the chain first, keep to the open field, and make the flock spend moves it cannot take back.