Play Aadu Puli Aattam (ஆடுபுலி ஆட்டம்) on Parlor Games

Aadu Puli Aattam (ஆடுபுலி ஆட்டம்) is a traditional 2-player hunting strategy board game from India, popular in Tamil Nadu. You can now play this game from your browser with a friend, or against the computer. Head over to Parlor Games to try this classic game.

One player controls 3 tigers (which all start at the apex triangle of the board), and the other player controls 15 goats (all are off the board, and placed one by one). The aim of the goats is to immobilize the tigers by surrounding them. The tigers aim to hunt the goats, capturing a goat by jumping over an adjacent goat and landing on an empty spot right beyond the goat. The hunt occurs in a straight line. The tiger player wins if 5 goats have been captured.

In the picture above, it is your (Katara's) turn next, shown by the yellow highlight, and you are controlling the tigers. Your most advantageous move is to use the topmost tiger to jump over either of the goats that are below it, and capture them. The computer is controlling the goats.

Gameplay

For the first 15 moves of the player controlling the goats, he places exactly one goat on the board. Once all 15 goats are placed, the goats can move by exactly one square.

On every move, the tiger player either

1. Moves a tiger to an adjacent empty spot.
2. Jumps over an adjacent goat to land on an empty spot that is next adjacent in the straight line (lines are drawn on the board) connecting the tiger and goat. The goat that is jumped over is "captured", and removed from the board.

For a full description of the rules, and hints on strategy, read the Rules and Strategy page.

Playing against the Computer

There are three levels of computer player (Novice/Normal/Expert), with Normal being the default. If you want a really easy game, pick Novice in the game creation page. 

If you have made at least 30 moves in the game, and neither player has won, you can chose to draw the game by "rematch", which will start a new game with the player roles reversed (goat player becomes tiger player and vice versa).