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The Book of the Quest
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Catalina's Games
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| Fox and Geese History Fox and Geese belong to a group of games known as Tafl, games in which battles are fought by two forces of unequal power. The earliest recording of this game in history is in Grettis Sage, an Icelandic book of about 1300 and there have been game boards found in England and Italy dated to around this period. There have been many variations of the game over the centuries. Edward IV of England owned two sets of the game in the latter part of the 15th century, with pieces made of "silver overgilt." The game instructions I will present are from 16th century Venetian compendium of games, Lupo e Pecore. The game is for two players, one player has 18 geese and the other has a single fox. The board is shaped like a cross. Play 1. The geese fill up one limb of the cross and the row of points adjacent to this limb. The fox can be placed on any of the remaining points (best played from the central point). 2. Players takes turns, the player with the geese opens the game by moving a piece forward. On subsequent turns the geese can move forwards or sideways but not backwards or diagonally. 3. The fox may move in any direction and take the geese by the short leap method. Multiple jumps can be made. Captured geese are removed from the board. 4. The geese cannot capture or jump the fox, but must corner him so he can no longer jump. 5. The Aim of the geese is to crowd the fox so he cannot jump, while the fox's goal is to eat enough geese to prevent them from being able to crowd him. |
Preparation Board 1. Bought a thin piece of plywood and had it cut to size, and glued the pieces together (father in law cut the board) 2. Sandpapered the edges of the playing board 3. Varnished with a walnut stain 4. Painted the decorative and playing lines, fox and geese designs from a period bestiary manuscript 5. Painted a sealer over the board Playing Pieces 1. Bought decorative dowels, cutting and sanding off ends to create the playing pieces 2. Painted the Playing pieces, white and black Comments 1. Having learned from the Alquerque game that the gumming up was due to bubbling, I smoothed out the bubbles as I painted 2. The lines weren't as straight as I would like, I think the paint bled a bit into the wood. References Grunfeld, Frederic Games of the World Botermans, Jake ... et al.]. The World of Games: their origins and history, how to play them, and how to make them Neznanich, Modar. Fox and Geese http://www2.kumc.edu/itc/staff/rknight/Game6.htm The Aberdeen Bestiary Project http://www.clues.abdn.ac.uk:8080/besttest/alt/comment/best_toc.html |
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