According to Steven Caney’s Kids’ America (Workman Publishing, 1978), Fox and Geese was played by the American Indians and called musinaykah-wanmetowaywin. The goal of the game is for the geese to corner the fox so he cannot move – or for the fox to capture all but one of the geese. Draw the game board onto paper or create a nice set to keep or give.
Make a Game Board
Start with a square piece of paper, cardboard, board, tray, etc. The size of the game board is up to the maker. A seven-inch board allows players to use game pieces the size of a penny and will be easy to draw. A smaller board will require players to use pieces about the size of a pony bead.
Divide the game board into a grid of forty nine squares, or a seven-by-seven grid. The four squares (two-by-two) in each corner are unnecessary for the game and can be crossed off or colored in as a solid block. This leaves thirty-three squares that form a cross. If this is a quick game board drawn onto paper, it isn’t necessary to color the squares.
However, if this is a gift or a game being added to a family collection, color the squares as desired, as long as the colors are different than the corner blocks that aren’t used in the game. Color the squares with acrylic paints, paint markers, or even permanent markers.
Make Pieces for a Board Game
Use thirteen pennies and one nickel for the game pieces. Or, make the game pieces from polymer clay, chenille stems, beads, etc. The key is to make thirteen of the pieces look similar and one piece look different. As long as the pieces are the same color, each could be a different shape. Just make certain that they fit within the game squares.
How to Play Fox and Geese
Here's a quick introduction on how to play this game.
- Set up the game by placing the fox piece in the center space. Fill two touching short rows and the following long row with the thirteen geese pieces. Position the board so the geese pieces are opposite the person who moves those pieces. The geese are placed at the top of the game board
- One player controls all of the geese pieces. The other player is the fox and controls only that piece.
- The geese make the first move. Players take turns.
- The geese can move one piece each turn. That move can be one space downward from the starting position or one space to the left or right. Geese can only move to a vacant spot. Geese cannot move diagonally or up the board toward their starting position.
- The fox can move one space each turn, either up, down, left, or right, into a vacant space. The fox can capture geese and remove them from the board by jumping horizontally or vertically over one of the geese and into the vacant space next to the geese. Fox may not make diagonal jumps. Successive (double or triple) jumps are possible providing that the fox is always jumping into a vacant space before capturing additional geese.
Remember, the goal of the game is for the geese to corner the fox so he cannot move – or for the fox to capture all but one of the geese. Players can take turns as either the fox or the geese.
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