How to Play Bagh Chal – Nepali Game

I see many people playing cards in Nepal, but recently, my nephew downloaded a game called Bagh Chal, which means ‘moving tigers’ in Nepali. It is an ancient hunt/chase board game that is thought to have originated in Nepal. But, because of urbanization and technology, Bagh Chal is not well known to the younger generations who are more interested in smartphone games. Veteran players and historians are worried that this ancient game might disappear.

The Basics of the Game

The Bagh Chal board has 5×5 grids that are interconnected creating twenty-five intersection points where the game pieces are placed. The game pieces consist of four tiger pieces and twenty goat pieces which can move along the lines from one point to another. One player controls four tigers while the other player controls twenty goats. One person plays the ‘tigers’ to capture five ‘goats’ by jumping over them (like in Checkers). The other plays the ‘goats’ and their objective is to use the goats to block the tigers so they have no moves left.

In the past, people played this on the ground or a smooth surface where they could scratch out the lines of the board, sometimes even just in the dirt. And they would use different stones for the ‘tigers’ and the ‘goats’. In Kathmandu, you might find other players in parks, temples, or other public spaces.

Rules and Game Play

One player controls four Tigers and the other player controls twenty Goats.
The Tigers ‘hunt’ the Goats while the Goats attempt to block the Tigers’ movements.
The game is played on a five-by-five grid.
Pieces are placed where the lines cross.
Valid movement between these points is along connected lines.
Players take turns adding/moving one piece
At the start of play, the Tigers are placed at the four corners of the board.
The player who controls the Goats, goes first, adding one Goat to the board.
The gameplay takes place in two phases.
- In the first phase, the Goats are placed on the board while only the Tigers move.
- In the second phase, both the Goats and Tigers move.
For the Tigers, the objective is to “eat” or capture five Goats to win.
Capturing is performed by jumping over the Goats.
The Goats win by blocking all the Tigers’ moves.

All the four tigers are placed on the four corners at the start of the game. All goats start off the board.

by Merkel and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Download a PDF of this game board and color it yourself so you can play Bagh Chal anywhere!

Moves of the ‘Tiger’ Pieces

They can start capturing goats any moment after the match has started.
Tigers can only capture one goat with a move.
They can jump over a goat in any direction, but it must be to an adjacent intersection following any of the lines drawn on the board.
A tiger cannot jump over another tiger.

Moves of the ‘Goat’ Pieces

They must leave the board when captured.
A goat can not jump over a tiger or another goat.
They can only move after all 20 have been put on the board.

Sometimes the game can fall into a repetitive cycle of changing positions. To avoid this kind of situation, an additional rule has been established: when all the goats have been placed on the board, the player is not allowed to make any move that is a repetition of previous moves.

The Future of the Nepali Game

Bagh-Chal has almost died out due to urbanization and technology. Older generations still play but they say their grandchildren are not interested. Most shopkeepers will tell you that only tourists buy the board game, and even then, not many. But the game still might be saved also because of technology. There are online versions of the game as well as tablet/mobile game apps.

What games do they play at your site? How do they play? Is it just the kids or do adults play too? I’m always interested in what others are playing so let us know here.