The Tigers
Four tigers begin on the corners. They prowl the lines of the board, and when a goat stands next to a tiger with an empty point beyond it, the tiger leaps — and the goat is gone. Capture five goats and the hunt is won.
Tiger strategy →The classic strategy game of Nepal
Four tigers.
Twenty goats.
One board.
Baghchaal is a centuries-old duel of predator and prey played on a 5×5 grid. Simple enough to learn over a cup of tea, deep enough to study for a lifetime.
No sign-up needed to practice. Free forever.
5×5grid, 25 points
2players, uneven sides
15–30minutes per game
∞centuries of play in Nepal
A hunt on 25 points
Baghchaal (बाघचाल, “the tiger’s move”) pits two completely different armies against each other. Neither side plays the same game — and that is exactly the point.
The Goats
Twenty goats enter the board one at a time, then move as a herd. Alone, a goat is helpless. Together, they wall in the tigers point by point until not a single tiger can move. Patience is their claw.
Goat strategy →How a game unfolds
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1
Setup
The four tigers take the four corners of the empty board. The goat player holds all twenty goats in hand.
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2
Placement
Turn by turn, the goat player drops goats onto empty points while the tigers move and hunt. Every placement is a small promise — and a small risk.
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3
The hunt
Once all goats are placed, both sides move along the lines. Tigers look for jumps; goats tighten the noose.
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4
Endgame
Five captured goats and the tigers feast. Four frozen tigers and the herd wins. There are no draws in the hills.
Two ways to play, right now
Practice vs Computer
A full Baghchaal board runs right here in your browser. Pick a side, pick a difficulty, and play — no account, no download, nothing to install.
Open the boardLive Multiplayer
Real opponents, real-time boards, chat, spectating, and voice — hosted at ChiyaPasal, our partner community. The closest thing to a Kathmandu tea shop on the internet.
Play at ChiyaPasalNew at the board
A warm namaste to the players who just joined the community.
“Before there were screens, there were courtyards — and on the stone of those courtyards, someone was always moving tigers.”
Baghchaal has been played across the hills and valleys of Nepal for generations: scratched into temple steps, carved into wooden boards, taught by grandparents on rainy afternoons. It is more than a game — it is a small, portable piece of the Himalaya.
Explore the historyScenes from the chautari
From the old squares of the Kathmandu Valley to teahouses high on the trails — wherever Nepalis gather, the tiger game follows.
From the news desk
All news →The Chautari Goes Online
For centuries, finding a Bagh Chal opponent meant finding a stone platform and an idle afternoon. The internet has quietly removed both requirements.
How to Run a Bagh Chal Tournament in Your Town
Everything you actually need: a fair format for an unfair game, a scoring system, and about as much equipment as a picnic.