- Bear games
Bear games is a category of board games of which many have historical roots to the
Roman empire . They are still played today especially inItaly . They were played in many parts of the Roman empire as far away asTurkey andFrance . All of the games are two-playerabstract strategy games . Normally, the game is played with three hunters and one bear on a patterned board. It bears similarity to the hunt games such as theFox games ,Rimau-rimau , andBagha-Chall , however, there are no captures involved. The three hunters are trying to hem in the bear, and block its movements.The closest relative of the Bear games are the
Hare games . In this case, the hares are the "hunters" (a reversal in the naming procedure where the bear in the Bear games is the "hunted"), and there are three of them which is the same number of hunters in the Bear games. The difference is that the hares cannot move backwards in any way, whereas, the hunters can move in any direction. As a result, the boards used are also different. Another close relative is the game calledWatermelon Chess . In one of the Bear game variants, the board is the same as that of Watermelon Chess. Furthermore, the gameSz'Kwa also uses the same board, although it is not actually related to the Bear games since the rules and game play are completely different.Goal
The hunters attempt to hem in the bear and block its movements. The goal of the bear is to avoid this fate. As an optional rule, if the hunters cannot stalemate the bear in a given number of moves, e.g. 40 moves, the bear wins.
Equipment
There are a variety of patterned boards anywhere from round to rectangular boards. The first link below shows seven. There are normally three hunters, and one bear, however, these quantities especially for the hunters can change drastically depending upon the variant.
Game Play and Rules
1. Initial positions of the pieces vary depending upon the variant. Usually the bear is placed in the middle of the board, and the hunters are placed together on one end of the board. One player plays the hunters (normally three pieces), and the other player plays the bear.
2. Both hunters and bears move one space at a time following the pattern on the board. Only one piece may be moved by each player. Players alternate their turns. There are no captures in this game.
3. As an optional rule, if the hunters cannot stalemate the bear in a given number of moves, e.g. 40 moves, the bear wins.
Analysis
With perfect play, the hunters win.
This is a great example of a game where the humans have an edge over the computer. In some variants, the
Zillions of Games program takes longer to win a game for the hunters as compared to human players.Related Games
Hare games ,Watermelon Chess ,Sz'Kwa ,Fox games ,Rimau-rimau ,Bagha-Chall ,Main Tapal Empat ,Adugo External Links
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/
http://www.pbm.com/pipermail/hist-games/2008/001394.html
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