Fox and Geese is a centuries-old Northern European hunt game played on a cross-shaped board of 33 points. It is gloriously lopsided: one player controls a single fox while the other directs a flock of thirteen geese. The flock can never capture — its only weapon is numbers, slowly walling the fox into a corner from which it cannot move. The fox, meanwhile, slips through gaps and leaps geese checkers-style to thin the flock.
On Wobblox you start as the geese, but a single tap lets you switch sides and hunt as the fox instead. Play free online Fox and Geese in your browser against three AI strengths, with no download or account needed.
The game belongs to the tafl family of Norse hunt games. Its earliest known ancestor, halatafl, is mentioned in Grettis saga, an Icelandic saga set down around the fourteenth century, and versions of the fox hunt spread across medieval Europe from Scandinavia to Britain. By the Victorian era it was a fixture of English parlours — Queen Victoria herself is said to have enjoyed playing it — and the cross-shaped board it popularised was later borrowed for peg solitaire.
Over the centuries players have tinkered endlessly with the balance. Some traditions arm the flock with fifteen or seventeen geese, others forbid the geese from moving sideways, and stricter rules force the fox to jump whenever a capture is available. That constant rebalancing is exactly what makes Fox and Geese fascinating: it is one of the purest studies in asymmetric strategy, where the two sides play by different rules and must think in completely different ways.
As the geese, surround the fox so it has no legal move. As the fox, capture enough geese (down to five) that the flock can no longer trap you.
Tap one of your pieces to select it — legal destinations light up. Geese move one step along a board line (never backwards toward home); the fox moves one step in any direction or jumps an adjacent goose into the empty point beyond to capture it. Use the Switch button to swap which side you play.
There is no point tally. The flock wins by immobilising the fox; the fox wins by reducing the geese below the number needed to trap it. A live counter shows geese remaining and geese captured.
As the geese, advance in a tight unbroken wall and never offer the fox a goose it can jump. As the fox, stay mobile near the open arms of the cross and snap up any goose that strays out of formation.
Who has the advantage, the fox or the geese?
With careful play the geese can always corner the fox, but casual flocks usually lose — one goose left unguarded is often all the fox needs to unravel the whole wall.
Can the geese capture the fox?
No. The geese never capture anything; they win purely by crowding the fox until it has no legal move remaining.
Can I play as the fox instead of the geese?
Yes — press the Switch button at any time to change sides and try hunting the flock yourself.
More classic games: Alquerque, Checkers, Nine Men's Morris, Halma, Lines of Action, and all 100 free games.