The Fox games are a category of board games where one player is the fox and tries to eat the geese/sheep, and the other player directs the geese/sheep and attempts to trap the fox, or reach a destination on the board. There are several versions in northern Europe, such as the probably original Halatafl and the English Foxes and geese game.


History
The game Halatafl is known from at least as early as the 14th century, and it is mentioned in Grettis saga, and it probably originated in Scandinavia, as a variant of Tafl. In fact, Halatafl is still played in Scandinavia with rules similar to Tafl, see below. Edward IV of England is known to have purchased two foxes and 26 hounds for two sets of a game called Marelles, believed to be Fox and Hounds.


Halatafl

A modern edition of the traditional Scandinavian halatafl, the "fox game" (for a different brand, see link)Halatafl means "fox board", in Old Norse and, like in Grettis saga, rävspelet (modern Swedish for "the Fox game") is still played with holes and pegs.

There are two fox pegs (the red pegs on the picture) and 20 sheep pegs (the yellow pegs). Like the original game, tafl, the objective is for the defender (sheep) to reach a certain destination on the board, the square of nine holes marked with red, and it is the attacker's (the foxes) objective to stop the defender from reaching it. The foxes are placed in the corners on the bottom of the red square (the paddock), whereas the sheep are placed on the opposite side of the board. When the players have decided who will move first, they move one step in turns. The sheep may only move forward or sidways, while the foxes may move in any direction, even backwards. If a sheep is in front of an empty hole, the fox has to jump over and capture the sheep, like in checkers. The capturing is mandatory, as are repeated jumps if possible. If the fox does not jump and capture, the sheep opponent may capture the fox. The sheep also capture the fox, if he is surrounded and cannot move. The sheep have won if they manage to fill the paddock, the red square.


Foxes and geese

Fox and GeeseIn the English-speaking world a simplified version called Foxes and geese is more well-known. In this version the objective of reaching a certain location has been removed and instead it all comes down to capturing each other's pieces. Neither is it mandatory for the fox to capture the opponent's pieces, and there are no restraints on the defender's (the geese's) movements.

The fox is placed in the middle of the board, and 13 geese are placed on one side of the board. The fox and geese can move to any empty space around them (also diagonally). The fox can jump over geese like in checkers, capturing them. Repeated jumps are possible. Unlike in Halatafl (and in checkers), capturing is not mandatory. The geese win if they surround the fox so that it cannot move. The fox wins if it captures enough geese that the remaining geese cannot surround it anymore. Game variants with 15 and 17 geese are also possible.