Game of the Goose

01Discover the game

The Game of Goose is a race on a spiral course of 63 squares. In your turn, the two dice decide on the distance to travel. Some boxes move forward again, others impose a retreat or a wait. You can be close to the finish and go away: the pleasure comes from these changes of situation.

The overall difficulty is Very easy. You have to know how to add the dice, count the boxes and apply their effects; there is almost no strategic choice. We keep a traditional family variant with two dice, without bets or money. It follows the course to 63 boxes, with two rounds waiting at the well and in prison to avoid that a two part remains blocked. This limited waiting alternative is proposed in particular in the Ludo & Co leaflet of Djeco. The other effects are announced below: do not replace them with those of a thematic board.

02Equipment

It takes a 1 to 63 board, two ordinary dice and one pawn identifiable per player. Two to six people can use six separate pawns; the game can accommodate more participants if the board and markers remain legible. This ability is a material adaptation of the traditional game, not the commercial limit of all boxes.

On our reference route, the Goose boxes are 5, 9, 14, 18, 23, 27, 32, 36, 41, 45, 50, 54 and 59. The other markers are Bridge 6, Inn 19, Well 31, Labyrinth 42, Prison 52 and Death 58. These effects must be recorded or available next to the tray. A reminder token can help to count the waiting towers.

03The goal

Being the first to reach exactly box 63. Passing the finish doesn't win: you have to go back to the surplus. There is no collection of objects, nor points to total. So a leading pawn is not yet a winner until he has finished with the right account.

04Preparing the race

Each player places his pawn on the start, before box 1. Choose the first player at random and then play clockwise. All the pawns start off the track: a 4 throw leads them to box 4, not to box 5.

Read together the special boxes, especially the limited waiting at the well and in prison. The text on this page is the variant chosen for the game. If a box indicates other effects, you can follow its record entirely during another game, but do not mix the two lists during the race.

05Run the dice and fix the box

Ordinary displacement

Launches the two dice, adds up their results and advances as many boxes. Does not count the starting box as the first step. Then, after the effect of the finish box. It is the arrivals that trigger the effects: crossing the bridge or death without stopping does not produce anything.

The Geese and the first throw

A Goose repeats the move of the same total, without restarting the dice. If you still arrive on a Goose, repeat until you leave these boxes. At the very first throw of a player, a total of 9 benefits from an exception: 6 and 3 send directly to 26; 4 and 5 directly to 53. This avoids chaining the Goose from the start to the victory.

These two shortcuts concern the first throw of each player, not just the first throw of the whole table. On the following turns, make 9 does not automatically send to 26 or 53: you advance from its position and read the box obtained.

Traps and the Bridge

• In 6, the bridge leads directly to 12.
• In 19th, the inn passes the next round.
• In 31, the well passes the next two towers into our family variant.
• In 42, the maze refers to 30.
• In 52, the prison passes the next two towers into our family variant.
• In 58, death refers to the beginning, before box 1.

After the two towers of the well or the prison, you normally play the third one. So we don't expect another pawn to come and deliver the prisoner. The move that brought you to the trap is not already a past trick.

Busy box

When your move ends on another player's pawn, the player returns to the box you occupied at the beginning of your throw. So you exchange your locations; the pawn moved in this way does not restart the dice. To avoid the poorly defined chain effects, our table convention is that this return does not trigger a new box effect. The effects apply to the pawn whose turn is underway. The waiting traps can accommodate several pawns by applying the meters separately, which avoid mixing exchange and deliverance.

The rebound on arrival

If your throw is over 63, go up to 63 then step back from the surplus. Since 60 with a total of 5, you make 61, 62, 63, 62, 61: you finish in 61. In our convention, a Goose encountered by recoiling the recoil of the same total; it does not return you forward. So keep the dice visible until the end of the movement.

06Three tricks explained

On the first round, Alice gets 6 and 3: she goes straight in 26. Bob gets 2 and 4: he arrives in 6, then borrows the bridge up to 12. Chloe gets 1 and 3: she advances up to 4, an ordinary box.

Later, Alice starts from 10 and makes 4. She arrives on Goose 14 and advances again from 4 until Goose 18, then again from 4 until 22. She does not restart the dice between these three movements. The effects are a repetition of the initial total, no new throws.

Bob arrives in prison during his turn. On his next two occasions to play, he does not launch and withdraw a waiting reminder. At the third, he normally throws. So he knows when he will leave, even if no other player falls in 52.

Enlarge ↗

07Victory and duration

Reaching exactly 63 immediately wins. The other players don't have a last throw to equalize. We don't count the remaining coins or boxes to give another win.

One part often lasts 15 to 30 minutes, but dice and traps can prolong it. This duration is an editorial estimate. You can decide before another part to delete the account just for the younger ones, but it would be a shorter variant, not the full rule described here.

08Frequent errors

• Count the starting box as a step.
• Relaunching the dice on a Goose instead of repeating the total.
• Apply a trap by crossing it.
• Forget the exception of the first total of 9.
• Win over 63 instead of bounce.
• Use a mandatory delivery at the well when you have chosen to wait for two towers.

09Tips for starting

Keep the dice in front of you until all the effects are over. Count the steps out loud and move the pawn box after box. A small waiting marker is better than an imprecise memory of the number of turns already passed.

This game does not reward a hidden strategy: you almost never choose its movement. Encourage the verification, patience and acceptance of chance. Before playing again, compare the effects printed on your different trays: their differences often explain the disagreements of rules.