How do goats win when they cannot capture?
Goats win by leaving every tiger with no legal move and no legal capture at the same moment. Tigers remain on the board while goats occupy their routes and landing points.
Count the legal moves and captures available to all four tigers. Then inspect the landing points, because one legal jump can decide the game after four goats have been captured.
Where to place your first goats
Check for an immediate jump before every placement. If a tiger stands next to your chosen point and the point beyond it is empty on the same line, choose a different point unless you have checked the resulting capture.
The centre cannot be captured on the tiger's first reply, so it can help you practise an opening. It does not stay safe by itself. A tiger that reaches an inner diagonal point can threaten a jump through the centre on a later turn.
Use each new placement to close a landing point or support a goat on a specific line. Edge and central points can both work when the next tiger reply leaves no useful capture.
What makes a goat safe
A goat is safe from a given tiger when the point directly behind it, on the line running from that tiger through the goat, is occupied by another goat or a tiger.
Two goats standing consecutively along a drawn line protect each other from a head-on jump on that line. Extend the line to three and the middle goat cannot be jumped from either end of that line.
Watch the diagonals when you do this. A pair that looks safe along the horizontal may be wide open along a diagonal you did not notice, because only thirteen of the 25 points carry diagonals at all.
Giving up a goat on purpose
The goats can lose four pieces and remain in the game. A fifth capture ends the match.
You may offer a goat when the capture lands a tiger on a point you can block. Before using that idea, count the tiger's moves and captures from its destination, then check the goat placement you plan to make next.
Once the tigers have four captures, do not offer another legal jump. The tiger wins as soon as it captures the fifth goat.
Closing the net
Close one tiger route at a time while checking the other three tigers. Support each blocking goat on the line under attack so the tiger cannot jump it.
A corner connects to three neighbouring points, so a corner tiger has fewer adjacent routes than a tiger on an inner diagonal point. A corner trap still needs supported blocks on each available line.
Remember that you can win during the placement phase. If a placement finishes the last tiger, the game ends there — you do not have to place all twenty first.
Five goat mistakes to check
- Placing without checking the landing point. Trace the line from each tiger through the point you want to use.
- Ignoring the diagonals. The formation that is safe horizontally and vertically is often wide open on a diagonal. Check all the lines that actually leave the point.
- Packing goats too tightly. When placement ends you have to move a goat every turn. A formation with no internal space may force you to open one of your own blocks.
- Chasing one tiger. Trapping three tigers does not end the game. If the fourth still has a move, the game continues and your formation is now stretched.
- Ignoring the capture count. After four captures, one exposed goat ends the game.
Now read the other half: winning as the tigers to see how they inspect landing points and escape routes.