How to Play Bagh-Chal

The Board

Bagh-Chal is played on a 5×5 grid = 25 points, with pieces sitting on the points (the line intersections), not the squares. The board is an alquerque lattice: lines run horizontally and vertically between every neighbouring point, and diagonals run through the "strong" points.

A point is a strong point (with diagonal connections, up to 8 directions) when the sum of its column and row is even; otherwise it is a weak point connecting only up, down, left, and right. The corners are strong points, so a corner tiger can also slide or jump diagonally inward.

  T---+---+---+---T
  |\  |  /|\  |  /|
  +---+---+---+---+
  |  /|\  |  /|\  |
  +---+---+---+---+
  |\  |  /|\  |  /|
  +---+---+---+---+
  |  /|\  |  /|\  |
  +---+---+---+---+
  T---+---+---+---T

  T = Tiger (starts on the 4 corners)
  Goats begin off the board, in hand

Setting Up

1. 4 tigers start on the four corner points.
2. 20 goats start off the board, "in hand."
3. The goat player moves first.

The Two Phases

Phase 1 — Placement

On each goat turn, the goat player places one goat on any empty point. During placement, goats cannot move — only place. The tigers, however, move and capture on their turns from the very start. Placement continues until all 20 goats have been placed.

Phase 2 — Movement

Once every goat is on the board, the goat player switches to moving: a goat steps one point along a connecting line to an adjacent empty point. Goats never jump.

How the Tigers Hunt

On a tiger's turn it may do one of two things:

• Step: move one point along a line to an adjacent empty point.
• Capture (jump): jump a single adjacent goat in a straight line to the empty point immediately beyond it. The jumped goat is removed from the board.

How to Win

1. Tigers win by capturing 5 goats.
2. Goats win when no tiger can move or jump — every tiger is trapped, boxed in by goats and the board's edges.
3. If 30 moves pass with no capture after all goats are placed, the game is a draw.

Strategy Tips

Cultural History

Bagh-Chal (बाघचाल, bāgh cāl — "moving tigers"; in Newar, धुँ कासा dhun kasa) is widely regarded as Nepal's national board game. It is centuries old and has survived largely by oral tradition. The game is widely thought to be shaped by Nepal's pastoral, herding life, where herders guarded their flocks from tigers — a tension mirrored in its asymmetric design.

Traditionally it was played in community rest-houses (paatis) and parks. At its simplest it needs nothing more than lines scratched into the dirt and a handful of pebbles — four tiger markers and twenty goat markers. Authentic sets, by contrast, are handcrafted in brass-on-wood in Kathmandu and Patan, with the playing lines etched into the board.

Today Bagh-Chal is considered endangered as a living tradition, kept alive mostly by older players — one of many traditional games whose survival now depends on a new generation choosing to learn it.