Play Fox and Geese — Free
The medieval hunt game: you are the fox 🦊 against thirteen geese that only march forward. Step, jump, and chain captures to thin the flock to five — before the wall of feathers seals you in.
What is Fox and Geese?
Fox and Geese is the classic asymmetric hunt game of medieval Europe, played on the same 33-point cross board later borrowed by peg solitaire. The sides could hardly be more different: one fox that moves freely and kills by jumping, against thirteen geese that cannot jump, cannot retreat, and win only by discipline — advancing as an unbroken wall until the fox has nowhere left to stand. One side plays a slasher film, the other plays a slow siege, and both are right.
The game's pedigree runs deep. Its Norse ancestor hala-tafl ("fox board") is mentioned in Icelandic saga literature, making it a cousin of Hnefatafl — the same northern taste for unequal battles, with the drama inverted: in tafl the lone side flees, here it hunts. The game appears in an English royal household account of the 1290s, and it stayed a fireside favourite for six more centuries; Queen Victoria's journal records her playing Fox and Geese at Windsor. This version puts you in the fur: step in any direction, jump adjacent geese into the empty point beyond, and chain jumps for multi-captures, checkers-style.
How to Play
Fox Tips & Strategy
Thirteen against one sounds unfair until you remember the geese cannot step backward. These habits keep the fox fed.
Hunt the gaps, not the geese
A goose is only edible when the point behind it is empty. Watch the flock's second rank: the moment a goose advances without a backer, it has become lunch. Your job is to look two ranks deep, not at the front line.
Bait with your body
Geese must come to you to win, and every approach square is a potential jump. Stand one point away from an advancing wall and wait: whichever goose steps up first opens the spree. Patience converts their numbers into your food.
Chain into space, not glory
A double capture that lands you inside the flock can be suicide — geese seal behind you fast. Prefer chains that finish in open country, even if they take one goose fewer. A live fox out-eats a surrounded one.
Count to five
The geese need roughly nine birds to build a working wall. Every capture below ten cripples their ability to seal an arm of the cross, and at five the hunt is mathematically over. The middlegame goal is not survival — it is getting the count under nine before the wall reaches you.
A Hunt Played for Seven Centuries
Hunt games — one strong piece against a herding crowd — appear across the world's game history: tigers and goats in Nepal (bagh-chal), leopards and cows in Sri Lanka, foxes and hens in France's renard et poules. The European branch on the cross board is first attested in the Norse world; the Grettis saga mentions hala-tafl in the 13th century, and by the 1290s an English royal wardrobe account lists gaming boards for it. The game crossed centuries effortlessly because its lesson never aged: a mob beats a monster only by holding its line, and one impatient step ruins the siege for everyone.
On vygam the hunt family sits alongside its Norse cousin Hnefatafl, whose king plays the fox's mirror image, and the same cross board hosts Peg Solitaire for solo play. If asymmetric strategy hooks you, Checkers shares the jump-capture DNA, and Nine Men's Morris — another medieval fireside staple — rewards the same patient, positional thinking that wins for the geese.
FAQ
Is Fox and Geese free to play?
Yes — Fox and Geese on vygam is completely free. You play the fox against the computer's geese in your browser, with no download and no sign-up.
How do you play Fox and Geese?
The board is a 33-point cross. Thirteen geese face one fox. The fox (you) steps one point in any direction, or jumps over an adjacent goose into the empty point beyond to capture it — and may chain several jumps in one turn. Geese step one point forward or sideways, never backward, and cannot jump. The fox wins by reducing the flock to five; the geese win by crowding the fox so it cannot move.
Why can't the geese move backward?
That restriction is the game's balance. The geese outnumber the fox thirteen to one, but they can only advance or sidestep, so every step is a commitment — a wall that advances too carelessly leaves gaps behind it that the fox can dart through. Herding well means advancing as an unbroken line.
How does the fox chain captures?
After a jump, if another jump is available from the landing point, the fox may take it immediately in the same turn — like multiple jumps in checkers. A well-baited flock can lose three or four geese in a single spree, which is usually the game's turning point.
When does each side win?
The fox wins when only five geese remain — too few to trap it. The geese win when the fox has no legal step or jump, which usually means being herded into an arm of the cross and sealed in.
How old is Fox and Geese?
At least seven centuries. It belongs to the same hunt-game family as Norse hala-tafl ('fox board'), mentioned in Icelandic sagas; an English royal household account from 1290s Edward I-era mentions the game, and it remained a nursery and parlour staple through the Victorian age — Queen Victoria herself is recorded playing it.
Is Fox and Geese related to Hnefatafl?
They are cousins in spirit: both are asymmetric games from the Norse world where a lone powerful piece fights a numerous encircling side. Hnefatafl's king escapes an ambush; Fox and Geese inverts the drama — the strong piece is the hunter, and the crowd must trap it with discipline rather than force.