Aadu Puli Attam (Goats and Tigers): The Traditional Game and How to Play

Some games are about luck. Aadu Puli Attam is not one of them. There are no dice, no cards and nothing hidden. Just three tigers, fifteen goats and two players trying to outthink each other. The name says it all: aadu means goat, puli means tiger and attam means game.

It was traditionally played on a board scratched on the floor, drawn on a verandah with chalk, or marked on a flat stone, using pebbles, seeds or shells as pieces. Because it needs nothing more than a few lines and a handful of counters, it was easy to play anywhere: at home, in a temple courtyard, or under a tree on a hot afternoon.

Part of a much bigger family

Aadu Puli Attam belongs to a wider family of games known as "hunt games". In these games the two sides are unequal on purpose. One side has a few strong hunters, and the other has many weaker pieces that must work together. Different versions of hunt games, with different boards and numbers of pieces, are played across South Asia and beyond. The Tamil version, with its distinctive mountain-shaped board, is the one many of us remember from childhood.

The board

The board has 23 points where pieces can stand. It looks like a mountain or a triangle sitting on top of a set of horizontal lines. Lines run from the peak down through the board, and horizontal lines cross them. Pieces sit on the points where lines meet, and they move along the lines, not through open space.

If you have never seen one, the easiest way to understand it is to open the online Aadu Puli Attam game and look at the board for a moment. The shape makes sense very quickly.

The pieces

• 3 tigers. They begin the game on the board, up near the peak of the mountain.
• 15 goats. They start off the board and are brought in one at a time.

One player controls the tigers and the other controls the goats.

How to play

Phase 1: Placing the goats

The game starts with the goats being brought onto the board. On each goat turn, the goat player places one new goat on any empty point. The tigers take their turns in between, moving around and trying to catch goats while the herd is still arriving.

Phase 2: Moving the goats

Once all 15 goats have been placed, the goat player can no longer add pieces. From then on, on each turn they move one goat along a line to a neighbouring empty point.

How the tigers move and capture

• A tiger can move along a line to a neighbouring empty point.
• A tiger can capture by jumping over a goat that is next to it, in a straight line, landing on the empty point just beyond. The goat that was jumped over is removed from the board.
• Goats can never capture tigers. They can only move and block.

How each side wins

• The goats win by trapping all three tigers so that none of them can move or jump.
• The tigers win by capturing enough goats that the herd can no longer trap them. Traditional rules for this vary between families, so in the TNChatZone version we use a clear target: the tigers win after capturing 6 goats.

In our online game, if 60 moves go by without a single capture, the game is declared a draw. This keeps games from going on forever when both players are being very careful.

Playing as the goats

The goats are weaker one by one but stronger as a group. Most beginners lose their first few games as goats, and that is normal. These habits help:

• Never leave a goat with an empty point behind it. A tiger can only jump a goat if the point on the other side is empty. Keep your goats backed up by other goats or by the edge of the board.
• Build from the bottom. Placing goats along the lower rows first gives you a solid base to push up from.
• Move as a wall. In the second phase, move goats so that the line stays connected. Gaps are where tigers break through.
• Squeeze slowly. You do not need to trap the tigers quickly. Take away their space one point at a time.

Playing as the tigers

• Stay in the open. Tigers are strongest in the middle of the board where they have many lines to move along. Avoid corners and the narrow peak once goats start arriving.
• Attack early. The placing phase is the tigers' best chance, because the goats have not yet formed a wall.
• Threaten two goats at once. If you set up a position where you can jump either of two goats, the goat player can usually only protect one.
• Keep your tigers apart. Three tigers bunched together are easier to trap than three tigers spread across the board.

Why this old game still works

Aadu Puli Attam teaches something every good strategy game teaches: think about what your opponent wants to do next. The goats learn teamwork and patience. The tigers learn to look for openings and to create double threats. It is also a lovely game to play across generations, because grandparents who learned it on a verandah can still beat grandchildren who think they are good at video games.

Try it online

Our free Aadu Puli Attam game lets you choose to play as the goats or the tigers against the computer. It is a good way to learn the board before teaching it to your family. Once you are comfortable, try the other side; it feels like a completely different game.

Looking for more traditional games? Read how to play Pallanguzhi or try the Pallanguzhi game online. And if you want to talk tactics with other players, join your district room in the TNChatZone app and ask who still remembers playing goats and tigers as a child.