TIGERS & GOATS
Game Board and Markers by Daniel Miyares and Instructions by Amy AlzNauer
What is Tigers & Goats or Aadu Puli Attam?
It is the Tamil version of an ancient board game, that is both easy to learn and full of strategy, a little like checkers. Aadu means goat. Puli means tiger. Attam means a lot of things: to urge forward, to move nimbly or quickly, a dramatic performance, or the materials for a game.
So, this game is about goats moving nimbly to avoid tigers in a drama that’s staged on a board.
A Little History
The game has been around for centuries. In fact, it is etched in a temple inside the parapet (the mahadwara) of the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysore, India. The temple itself dates back to the 12th century.
When he was young, Ramanujan played this game against his mother with pebbles on a floor grid. As Ramanujan’s biographer Robert Kanigel said, “The game demanded logic, strategy, and fierce, chesslike concentration. The two of them reveled in it.”
Download the game board, 3 tiger markers, 16 goat markers, & complete instructions HERE or by clicking button above.
* The image in the banner is of Amur and Timur (a Russian tiger and goat) who were first thought to be friends. If you decide to look up this story, I will warn you that it doesn’t end very nicely. The moral? Goats and tigers are rarely, if ever, friends!