Fox and Geese



Fox and Geese Board Game

   We played this game a lot when we were kids.  It is called Fox and Geese.  It is an old English board game, that has been adapted in Appalachia.  We played the game with 2 Fox and 23 Geese, and our board was not the traditional cross shaped used in the English version.
   The game is for two players, one person plays the two Fox, the other, plays the 23 Geese.  The Fox can move forward, across, diagonal, or backward, and can jump the Geese, taking the jumped Geese off the board.  If the Fox jumps all the Geese or hems them in where they cannot move, the Fox wins.  The Geese can move forward, across, and diagonal, but, not backward.  The Geese can jump a Fox and take him off the board, or hem the Fox in, so that he does not have a move. If the Geese jump both Fox, or hems them in, so they do not have a move; the Geese win.  (When someone jumps, there has to be an empty space to land in.)  We drew our board on cardboard, and used buttons for the Fox and Geese.  My husband said his family always used corn instead of buttons.  I told him, we saved our corn for parchin'.
   How God Blesses us, with treasured memories!