Aadu Puli Aattam - Rules

Aadu Puli Aattam (ஆடுபுலி ஆட்டம்) is a hunting strategy game for two players. It is a traditional game popular in Tamil Nadu, India. The game is similar in concept to Fox and Geese (England), and Bagh Chal (Nepal). The games differ in the shape of the board, and in the number of hunter and prey pieces.

To place a goat (first 15 moves of the goat player), simply touch an empty square. To move a tiger or goat, click on the animal to be moved, and then click on the adjacent empty square where you want to go.

Play Aadu Puli Aattam.

Starting Board

Rules

1. The 3 tigers start on the top-inner 3 vertices of the board.
2. The 15 goats are initially off the board.
3. Each player must make a move in their turn.
4. All animal movements are along the lines drawn on the board.
5. The player with the goats make the first move, and turns alternate after that.
6. The goat player places one goat on each of his turns till all 15 are placed.
7. The tiger player can either:
   • Move one tiger to an unoccupied adjacent vertex.
   • Eat one goat by jumping one tiger over the goat on the adjacent vertex to the vertex one more step over in a straight line. The goat that is eaten is removed from the board.
8. Once all the goats are placed on the board, the goat player must move the goats to an adjacent unoccupied vertex on each turn.
9. The game ends with a win for the tiger player when the 5th goat is eaten.
10. The game ends with a win for the goat player when none of the tigers can move.
11. Either player can call a draw once neither side has won, and 30 moves (each) have been made. The Rematch button will appear after a win, or when a draw can be claimed.

Gameplay

Capture a goat

Here, the apex tiger jumps over the goat right below it and lands on the marked square to eat (capture) the circled goat.

Goats Win

In the board below, the tigers have no place to move, and the goat player has won.

Strategy

We number the rows after skipping the apex, top to bottom. Thus, rows 1 (orange), 2 (cyan) , 3 (blue) have six positions each, and the bottom row (row 4, magenta) has 4 positions. For row 1,2,3, we refer to the edge columns by left-most column, and right-most column. The other 4 positions in these rows are simply referred to as the "middle columns".

Playing as tigers is straightforward. Just stay as far as possible in the center of the board, where you will have easy opportunities for capturing a goat when your opponent makes a mistake. By always keeping a tiger at the apex, you make it harder for the goats to trap you, as they must maintain goats on the two middle rows (cyan and blue) to keep you trapped. Sometimes, it is worthwhile to let one of your tigers trapped, so that you tie up a good number of goats, and provide chances for your other tigers to make kills.

For the goats, it is all about staying away from the tigers till you can closely surround them. One common technique is to start by placing your goats on the middle columns of row 3(blue), and then place goats on the bottom row only if a tiger moves to spot in row 2(cyan) to threaten the goat in row 3 (blue). If the tigers try to stay in the center, they will get quickly trapped. If they move to the edges, then focus on a tiger on the edge, immobilize it, and then start moving the goats on the bottom row to lock the other tiger. Losing goats will make it harder, so make sure that you are not giving up an easy kill.

• Try to get a goat to occupy the top vertex as soon as a tiger vacates it, as it will protect your goats in row 1(orange).
• If you have blocked the tigers from coming down to row 2(cyan) and row 3(blue), you can start moving up the goats in row 4(magenta) up, as they will be freed up for additional blocking.
• Always watch out for "forks", where a tiger can move into a position to threaten two goats simultaneously, because you will be able to save only one of the goats.

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