Hare and Hounds

Hare and Hounds is a small hunt game for two players on a board of only eleven points, in which three hounds try to trap a single hare. It is a traditional pastime in Britain and is named after the outdoor chasing game in which runners follow a trail laid by one of their number. Games of this kind are found throughout the world, and small boards like this one are easy to draw on a table or a slate.

How it is played

One player has three hounds and the other has one hare, and each turn a single piece steps along a line to an empty point. The hounds may move only forward or sideways, never backward, and they cannot capture. The hounds win by leaving the hare with no legal move. The hare wins by slipping past the hounds to the far side, or by outlasting them until they can no longer make progress.

Heritage note

Because the board is so small the game has been completely analysed, and the hounds can always force a win if they play correctly, which makes the game a gentle exercise in careful planning and teamwork rather than a long struggle. The name was borrowed from the running game that became a fixture of Victorian English schools and gave its name to cross-country clubs such as the Thames Hare and Hounds, founded in 1868. In Britain the board game was played at home by children, and variants with other numbers of hounds and different board shapes appear in books of traditional games.