The board and the sides

• Baagchaal is played on the 25 points of a 5×5 grid. Pieces stand on the points and move along the lines. Every point is joined to its neighbours across and up-down; diagonal lines run only through every other point (the corners, the centre and the points of the inner diamond).
• 4 tigers (बाघ) start on the four corners. 20 goats (बाख्रा) start off the board. Goats move first, then the sides take turns.

Placing the goats

• On each goat turn, one goat is placed on any empty point, until all 20 have been placed. Goats on the board may not move until then.
• Tigers move and capture as normal during this phase.

Moving

• Once all goats are in, a goat turn moves one goat one step along a line to a neighbouring empty point.
• A tiger either steps one point along a line, or captures: it jumps over a neighbouring goat in a straight line to the empty point right behind it, and the goat is removed. Only one jump per turn (no chains), and capturing is never compulsory.
• Goats can never capture. Their weapon is blocking.

Winning and draws

• Tigers win by capturing 5 goats.
• Goats win by trapping the tigers so that no tiger can move on the tigers' turn. Tigers with no move are ringed in red; the "Trapped" counter shows how many.
• If the goats ever have no legal move on their turn, the tigers win.
• Draw if the same position (same pieces, same side to move) comes up three times, or after 100 moves in a row without a capture once all goats are placed (both sides' moves count). You get a warning before either happens.

Tips

• Goats: fill the corners and edges first, keep goats in solid groups and never leave an empty point right behind a goat that stands next to a tiger.
• Tigers: stay central, keep apart from each other and attack two goats at once, since the goats can only defend one per turn.

Controls

• Goats, placing: tap any empty point. Moving: tap a piece to see where it can go (green dots for steps, red rings for captures, the goat in danger glows red), then tap a marked point or drag the piece there.
• Undo takes back your last move (and the computer's reply). Hint highlights a good move in blue. Resign ends the game.
• Notation: a single point such as c3 is a goat placed there, c3–c4 is a step and a1×c3 is a capture. Columns run a–e from left to right, rows 1–5 from bottom to top.

Modes

• vs Computer: play the goats or the tigers. Easy looks a move or two ahead and makes mistakes, Medium looks about three moves ahead, Hard searches much deeper for up to 1.5 seconds per move.
• 2 players: share one device and take turns.
• The optional move timer gives each turn 20 or 40 seconds (the ring round your picture). When it runs out, a quick move is played for you.