Bagh-chal

Bagh-chal, meaning tigers and goats, is a two player abstract strategy board game that originated in Nepal and involves no element of chance. One player controls four tigers and the other controls up to twenty goats in a deliberately asymmetric contest: the tigers try to capture goats by jumping over them along the lines of the board in a manner similar to checkers, while the goats win by maneuvering to block every tiger so that none can move. Play unfolds in two phases, an opening phase in which goats are placed onto the board one at a time while the tigers already on the board maneuver and hunt, followed by a movement phase once all goats are placed. Though its home is Nepal, a related version of the game with a different board layout but the same rules is also played in parts of southern India, and it remains popular in rural areas of Nepal today.