Tiger and Buffaloes

Tiger and buffaloes is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). It belongs to the hunt game family. The board is a 4x4 square grid, where pieces are placed on the intersection points and move along the lines. It is one of the smallest hunt games. Three tigers are going up against eleven buffaloes. The tigers attempt to capture as many of the buffaloes by the short leap as in draughts or Alquerque. The buffaloes attempt to hem in the tigers.

The game most resembles tiger hunt games (or tiger games) and perhaps can be classified as one. Examples of tiger games are Bagh-Chal, Rimau-rimau, and Catch the Hare. Tiger games usually consist of a standard Alquerque board which is a 5 x 5 square grid with several diagonal lines. Tiger and buffaloes consist of only a 4 x 4 square grid with no diagonal lines. It therefore most resembles hunt games such as Khla si ko, Len cúa kín ngoa, and Sua Ghin Gnua.

The game was described by in his 1986 book Velká encyklopedie her; II. Hry v klubovně which when translated from Czech is Great Encyclopedia of games; II. Games in the clubhouse.

Another name for the game is Tiger game.

A 4x4 square grid is used, and this creates 16 intersection points (here-in-forth referred to as "points"). There are 3 tiger pieces and 11 buffalo pieces with each set of pieces distinguishable from the other by color or design. Players decide who will play the Tigers, and who will play the Buffaloes. The board is empty in the beginning with each player's pieces set beside it.

Khla si ko is a Cambodian variant of Myanmar's Tiger and Buffaloes and of Thailand's Len cúa kín ngoa. Khla si ko when translated from Khmer to English means tigers and cows, or tigers and bulls. The game is also sometimes spelled as Kla si ko or Khlaa syi kau. Khlaa syi kau may also mean tiger eats cow. The game also uses a 4 x 4 board as in Tiger and buffaloes, but Tiger and buffaloes uses a 4 x 4 square grid where pieces are played on the gridded lines and intersection points. Khla si ko uses a 4 x 4 square board where the pieces are played within the squares. There are also 4 tigers and 12 cows in Khla si ko which is a contrast to the 3 tigers and 11 buffaloes of Tiger and buffaloes. There are a few other differences also. But both Khla si ko and Tiger and buffaloes have only orthogonal movement of pieces, and only move one space at a time. Tigers in both games capture by the short leap as in draughts and Alquerque, and only in orthogonal directions. Diagonal movements or captures are not allowed in both games. A game called Dragons and Swans is played exactly the same way with the same board and number of pieces.

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