Rimau

Rimau is a two-player abstract strategy game that belongs to the hunt game family. This family includes games like Rimau-rimau, Bagha-Chall, Main Tapal Empat, Aadu puli attam, and the Fox games. Rimau means "tiger" in the Malay language. The several hunters attempting to surround and immobilize the tiger are called orang-orang which is the plural form of orang which means "man". Therefore, orang-orang means "men" and there are twenty-four of them. The game originates from Malaysia.

Rimau is the single tiger version of the game Rimau-rimau which has two tigers. Both games have very similar rules. The difference is that in Rimau, the tiger can capture an odd number of men (1, 3, 5, or 7). In Rimau-rimau, the same capturing rule can also be applied, but due to the advantage the two tigers have over the men with this rule, it is preferable that they only capture 1 man at a time.

Rimau is specifically part of the tiger hunt game (or tiger game) family as it uses an expanded Alquerque board. Leopard games are also hunt games, but use a more triangular board and not an Alquerque based board. Fox games are also hunt games, but use more of a cross patterned board.

From here on, the rimau will be simply referred to its English name "tiger". The same also applies to the orang and orang-orang, and they will be referred to as "man" and "men" respectively.

Goal

The men win if they surround the tiger and block its movements.

The tiger wins if they capture all the men, or capture as many men as possible so that the men cannot block its movements.

Equipment

The game uses an expanded Alquerque board. There are two mountains (called "gunung" in Malay) attached on two opposite sides of the Alquerque board. The mountains are triangle patterned boards.

There is 1 black piece called a tiger, and 24 white pieces called men.

GamePlay and Rules

1. In the beginning the tiger is placed at the vertex of one of the two mountains that connects to the Alquerque board. Nine men are initially placed on the nine points of the central square.

2. The tiger player moves first and removes any 3 men from the board. Additionally, the tiger player may also pick up his tiger, and place it on "any" empty point on the board. The tiger player can simply leave the tiger where it is already.

3. The man player moves next, and must drop his or her remaining 15 pieces on any vacant point on the board one piece per turn before he or she can begin to move any of them. This will take 15 turns. Players alternate their turns throughout the game. The tigers can move and capture from the beginning.

4. Only one man is used to move per turn. Men cannot capture. Both tiger and men can only move one space at a time, and follow the pattern on the board.

5. The tiger can capture an "odd number of men (e.g. 1, 3, 5, or 7)". The tiger must be adjacent to the man or men, and hop over them onto a vacant point on the other side. The tiger must hop over them "in a straight line" that follows the pattern on the board. If more than one man is captured in the leap, the men must be "lined up right next to each other with no vacant points in between them". Once a man or a line of men are hopped over and captured, the tiger can no longer capture further or move. Captures are not compulsory.

6. If the men are reduced to 10 or 11 pieces, the men will usually resign as there is not enough of them to immobilize the two tigers.

Assymetry of the Game

Like all hunt games, Rimau is an assymetric game in that the pieces controlled by one player is different from the pieces controlled by the other player. A tiger can capture whereas men can only simply block the tigers. Furthermore, the number of pieces is different for each player. The tiger player controls one tiger piece, and the man player controls the 24 man pieces. Lastly, the goals of each player are different. The goal of the tiger is to eliminate as much men as possible which would prevent the men from blocking its movements. However, the goal of the men is to block the movement of the tiger.

Related Games

* Rimau-rimau
* Main Tapal Empat
* Bagha-Chall
* Aadu puli attam
* Fox games
* Adugo
* Komikan
* Kaooa

External Links

*http://www.oakgames.com/rimau.html

*http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/asiantiger.htm