Fox And Hens
Board Game Rules
The game of Fox and Hens is for two players and played on a Solitare board
The object of the game is to move nine of the twenty foxes into the henhouse before being stolen by the foxes.
One player takes twenty two pieces of the same colour, these pieces become the hens. The opposing player takes two pieces of a different colour these become the foxes. The hens must start on the light brown circles on the board with the exception of the first horizontal row running through the entrance of the henhouse (the henhouse being the nine red circles).
This row is guarded at either end by two foxes. Thus the foxes both begin the game with a light brown circle between them and the entrance to the henhouse.
The player who controls the hens starts first. He/she moves only one hen at a time and attemts to move his/her hens to the henhouse. Hens are only allowed to move forwards or sideways, except when in the henhouse when they can move in any direction.
After a hen has moved once, it is the fox's turn to move. The fox has the advantage of being able to move in any direction and it's aim is to steal as many hens as possible. A fox does this by jumping over a hen into a vacant space, that is (a), diirectly next to the hen in question and (b), on the opposite side of the hen in relationship to where the fox began the move. When a hen is stolen it is removed from play an taken off the board. The fox can only move one space at a time except when stealing hens.
If the player who controls the foxes overlooks an opportunity to steal a hen his/her opponent may kidnap the fox in question and temporarily remove it from the game until the other fox steals another hen. Then the kidnapped fox must be brought back into play and placed in a position where it cannot steal another hen on it's next move.
There is a way in which hens may play offensively. A fox may be shut in when the hens corner it and the fox is left with no option of either stealing or moving
In order for the player controlling the foxes to win he/she must steal twelve hens before they get into the henhouse. For the player controlling the hens to become the victor he/she must either get nine hens to the henhouse or shut in both foxes.