Petits Chevaux

01Discover the game

The Little Horses are a pawn race around a cross board. You have to get his horses out of the stable, make them walk the track, then climb the stairs of his color. The dice introduce a lot of chance, but when several horses have come out, you choose which one to move forward.

The overall difficulty is Easy: to anticipate a blocking or a capture helps, without asking for long calculations. There are many variations. Here we keep the traditional rule detailed by David Vantyghem, version 1.6, with only one dice per player, four horses per camp, prohibition to pass a horse and stairs climbing successively numbers 1 to 6. This is neither the Ludo with safety boxes, nor the Tock played with cards.

02Equipment

It takes a small horse board for four colours, with a stable per corner, a peripheral track and four stairs numbered from 1 to 6. Each player uses four pawns of his color and an ordinary dice: with four players, it is sixteen horses and four dice. One can share a dice materially, without throwing several dice at the same turn.

All players must use the same number of horses. The source allows to choose two, three or four; our entire part employs four. A short two horse part must be announced before the preparation. The colors are used to recognize the camps and their stairs; on a drawing, add letters if some colors are similar.

03The goal

Make your four horses finish the course before the other players. Each horse has to get out of the stable, go around the track, reach exactly the foot of his staircase and climb the six steps. The horses arrived are removed from the board. There is no score in points to add.

04Prepare the tray

Each player chooses a color and places his or her four horses in the corresponding stable. The tracks and stairs start empty. Draw lots the first player, then play clockwise.

Before the first run, show the departure of each colour, the common direction of travel and the entrance of each individual's stairway. The shapes and number of peripheral squares may vary according to the trays; you follow the printed path and do not transfer a box account from another box. Check above all that the steps carry 1 to 6 to apply this variant.

05Exit, advance, capture and climb

Going out with a six

Launch your dice. With a 6, you can either take out a horse and place it on the starting box of its color, or advance six boxes a horse already out. The same throw does not allow both to come out and then to move this horse forward of six boxes. After a 6, you restart, whether your choice has been an exit or a move.

With another result, put only one of your horses already on track the exact number indicated, if a legal move exists. If all your horses are still at the stable and you haven't done 6, you can't move anything. The turn passes to the next player.

Track and catch

One moves in the direction of the circuit without voluntarily going back. A horse cannot exceed another horse, regardless of its colour. Nor can it finish on a box occupied by a horse of its own color. If the path is blocked, one must choose another horse that can play it, or pass if no blow exists.

On the other hand, arriving exactly on an opposing horse sends him back to his stable. The horse that captures takes his place. The opponent will have to get a 6 again to get out. There is no free tour granted for a capture; only result 6 makes restart.

The ban on overtaking therefore does not mean that an opposing box is always inaccessible: one can finish a capture, but not continue beyond it in the same displacement. Do not split the points of a dice between two horses.

Reach the foot of the stairs

After a complete turn, it takes the exact number to arrive on the square just in front of your staircase. If your dice exceed, this horse does not move: choose another horse if possible. We do not use the rebound that makes the surplus go back. A 6 always gives a new throw, even if no horse could use the first result.

Step on step after step

A horse at the foot of its staircase needs a 1 to reach step 1, then a 2 for step 2, d-a 3 for step 3, and thus up to 6. It is not an ordinary displacement of several boxes: with a 5, one does not jump directly from step 1 to step 6.

A horse in the staircase does not exceed another horse and does not stop on a horse of its color. When it reaches step 6 with the required result, it has finished and is withdrawn. The 6 still allows to replay with a remaining horse. We do not require a second 6 to bring out the arrived horse: this requirement belongs to other variants.

06A race sequence

Alice has no horse on the track. She gets 6 : she takes out her first horse on her departure, then re-launchs. Her 4 allows her to advance this horse by four boxes if the journey is free. Bob gets 3 while her horses are all at the stable : he waits for the next round.

Later, a red horse is exactly four squares in front of a horse from Alice. Alice gets 4 and can arrive on him: Red returns to the stable. With 5, she could not pass over Red to stop a box further. She should choose another horse.

At the end of the circuit, Alice is only two squares away from the foot of her staircase. A 3 is too large: this horse stays on site. After reaching the foot with a 2 to a later turn, she will have to obtain successively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to make it finish. The drawings must distinguish clearly the movement on the track and this progression by imposed figures.

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07Arrival and Victory

A horse definitely out of the board can no longer be captured. When your fourth horse finishes step 6, you win immediately. Others can continue to establish a ranking if everyone wishes, but this does not call into question the victory.

The rules on this page do not include bonuses for three six in a row, no cancellation of a series of six, no obligation to release a new horse every time a 6 appears. Do not introduce them in the middle of the race. If your board has a different record, choose it entirely or announce the variant described here before starting.

08Frequent errors

• Get out and then move another six with the same dice.
• Spread a pitch between two horses.
• Jumping a horse instead of respecting the blocking.
• Bounce again in front of the stairway while this variant requires a stop.
• Go up the stairs like a simple track.
• Forgetting that a 6 can play again even when no move was possible.

09Tips for starting

Going out several horses gives more choice when the track blocks or one horse waits for a precise number on the stairs. Before moving the first visible pawn, see if another can capture, clear or finish a step.

Let the others count aloud and check the path together. When a throw is useless, we did not "badly played": a large part of the game depends on chance. For a short first discovery, two horses per person allow to learn the course without waiting for a very long race.