- Running-fight
Running-fight games are
board games that essentially combine the "method" ofrace games (such asbackgammon orpachisi ) and the "goal" of elimination-based games such aschess ordraughts . Like race games, pieces are moved along linear tracks based on the fall ofdice or other lots; but like chess, the object is to capture opponent pieces. They might be most easily conceptualized as race games with two main differences: First, when a piece lands on a space or point occupied by an opponent, instead of sending it back to the beginning to start over, the opponent piece is "captured", permanently removed from the game. Second, there is typically no "end" to the track; pieces keep moving around their circuits, gradually capturing more and more enemy pieces. A player wins and ends the game by capturing the last of the opponent pieces.Running-fight games are found almost exclusively in
Islamic -influenced cultures, ranging fromWest Africa toIndia , often bearing the namesTâb , Sig, or variations thereof; in fact, the whole running-fight family is sometimes referred to as Tâb games. However, threeEurope an examples exist:Daldøs /Daldøsa (Danish/Norwegian),Sáhkku (Samit), and Að elta stelpur (Iceland ic). Also in this group is thepre-Columbian Mesoamerica n game known variously as Bul, Boolik, or Puluc.References
*Bell, R(obert) C(harles). "Board and Table Games [1] ". Oxford University Press, 1960. rev. OUP, 1969. "Board and Table Games 2". OUP, 1969. rpt. in 1 vol as "Board and Table Games of Many Civilizations". Dover, 1979.
*Depaulis, Thierry. “Jeux de parcours du monde arabo-musulman (Afrique du Nord et Proche-Orient)” in "Board Games Studies" no. 4. Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2001.
*Michaelsen, Peter. “Daldøs, an almost forgotten dice board game” in "Board Games Studies" no. 4. Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2001.
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