Running-fight game
Running-fight games are board games that essentially combine the method of race games (such as backgammon or pachisi) and the goal of elimination-based games such as chess or draughts.
Description
Like race games, pieces are moved along linear tracks based on the fall of dice or other lots; but like chess, the object is to capture opponent pieces.
Differences between a running-fight game and a race game:
- When a piece lands on a space or point occupied by an opponent, instead of sending it back to the beginning to start over, the opponent piece is captured, permanently removed from the game.
- There is typically no "end" to the track; pieces keep moving around their circuits, gradually capturing more and more enemy pieces.
A player wins and ends the game by capturing the last of the opponent pieces.
Running-fight games are found almost exclusively in Islamic-influenced cultures, ranging from West Africa to India, often bearing the names Tâb, Sig, or variations thereof; in fact, the whole running-fight family is sometimes referred to as Tâb games.
However, three European examples exist: Daldøs/Daldøsa (Danish/Norwegian), Sáhkku (Samit), and Að elta stelpur (Icelandic).
Also in this group is the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican game known variously as Bul, Boolik, or Puluc.
The modern cross and circle game Fang den Hut! and its descendents Coppit and Headache are also running-fight games. Their unusual method of capture is the same as that of Bul, and conceivably they are descended from it, since a description of Puluc was published in German in 1906, and Boolik in English in 1907; Fang den Hut! was published in Germany in 1927.
See also
External links
- Running-fight game @ Wikipedia
