Baghchal or Bagchal is a word game that consists of Tiger and Goat board game that is very popular in Nepal and some parts of India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. This game consists of four tiger placed on a rectangular corner. It consists of 25 nodes. Then 20 goats are placed one by one. Tigers are already kept in the board and can move from one node to another if empty node and can jump to one node further if there is goat in between. However goat can only be placed till its count reaches 20 and after 20 goats are placed it can only move from one node to another. Goat wins the game by trapping the tiger and tiger wins the game by killing at least 9 goats. After killing 9 goats it is impossible for the goats to win the game. The typical Bagchal game board is shown below:



Baghchal game is a traditional game and is played on the ground or wooden place by drawing the rectangular board and lines between them. Big four stones are taken to indicate tiger and maize or any other smaller objects than tiger are selected to distinguish between tiger and goat in the game.



The above baghchal game shows that 10 goats are placed and neither of the tigers are trapped. There are certain rules involved in the game:

Rules for Tigers
Tigers can move to an adjacent free position along the lines.
They can jump over a goat in any direction, as long as there is an open space for the tiger to complete its turn.
A tiger cannot jump over another tiger.

Rules for Goats
Goats cannot move until all goats have been positioned on the board.
Goats must leave the board when captured.
Goats cannot jump over tigers or other goats.


You can play Baghchal game online. Click Baghchal Game to play Baghchal game online.