Running-fight games are

board games A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

that essentially combine the ''method'' of

race games Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least ...

(such as

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

pachisi Pachisi ( , ) is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India. It is described in the ancient text ''Mahabharata'' under the name of "Pasha". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A player's pieces move aro ...

) and the ''goal'' of elimination-based games such as

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...

. Like race games, pieces are moved along linear tracks based on the fall of

dice A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

or other lots; but like chess, the object is to capture opponent pieces. They might be most easily conceptualized as race games with two main differences: First, when a piece lands on a space or point occupied by an opponent, instead of sending it back to the beginning to start over, the opponent piece is '' captured'', permanently removed from the game. Second, there is typically no "end" to the track; pieces keep moving around their circuits, gradually capturing more and more enemy pieces. A player wins and ends the game by capturing the last of the opponent pieces. Running-fight games are found almost exclusively in

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

-influenced cultures, ranging from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, often bearing the names

Tâb Tâb () is the name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and West Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Somalia, wher ...

, Sig, or variations thereof; in fact, the whole running-fight family is sometimes referred to as Tâb games. However, three

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an examples exist:

Daldøs Daldøs running-fight board game">ø">al'døs">ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døsis a Running-fight game">running-fight board game only known from a few coastal locations in southern Scandinavia, where its history can be traced back to around 18 ...

/Daldøsa ( Danish/ Norwegian),

Sáhkku Sáhkku is a board game of the Sami people. The game is traditional among the North Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Inari Sámi and Lule Sámi but may also have been played in other parts of Sápmi. Rules Sáhkku is a running-fight game, which means that pl ...

( Samit), and Að elta stelpur (

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic). Also in this group is the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

n game known variously as Bul, Boolik, or Puluc. The modern

cross and circle game Cross and circle is a board game design used for race games played throughout the world. Design The basic design comprises a circle divided into four equal portions by a cross inscribed inside it like four spokes in a wheel; the classic exa ...

Fang den Hut! and its descendants

Coppit Coppit is a running-fight board game created in 1927 by Otto Maier Verlag which was originally called in (or Capture The Hat in English). It was renamed and has been re-released several times, most notably by the Spear's Games company in 1964. ...

and

Headache A headache, also known as cephalalgia, is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of Depression (mood), depression in those with severe ...

are also running-fight games. Their unusual method of capture is the same as that of Bul, and conceivably they are descended from it, since a description of Puluc was published in German in 1906, and Boolik in English in 1907; Fang den Hut! was published in Germany in 1927.

References

* * * * {{Tabletop games by type Roll-and-move board games