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The Ultimate Guide to Playing “Cờ cá ngựa”: Rules and Strategies for Beginners

Embark on a journey of discovery as we unravel the rules and guidelines of the exciting game of fish-horse chess, a perfect addition to your Tet holiday festivities. Uncover the secrets to mastering this traditional game and become a pro in no time!

Administrator

22 July, 2024

Horseback Chess is an extremely familiar and popular entertainment game for Vietnamese youth, but many people are still unfamiliar with this game. So let’s take a look at the following article to learn about the extremely simple and easy-to-understand horseback chess rules.

1 What is Horseback Chess?

What is Horseback Chess?

Horseback chess (horse racing chess) is a board game for entertainment. This game originated from the Indian game Pachisi and was introduced to Vietnam as Horseback Chess. This is also .

See also: Top 9 loved by many people

2 Read 5 minutes to know how to play horseback chess

Read 5 minutes to know how to play horseback chess

First of all, throw the dice, whoever takes the turn throws, depending on the player, the winner of the rock-paper-scissors game or the person with the highest dice roll will take the first turn. The dice are thrown into a tray or bowl with a bounce or shaken in the accompanying cup.

Next is deploying the army, the right to send a chess piece to move on the board. To have this right, it will depend on the result of throwing the dice, when throwing the results 1-6, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 will be entitled to deploy.
When there is already a chess piece on the board, you can base on the result of throwing the dice to move it. The result is the number of steps that must be moved, not moving more or less than the result.
When your chess piece has moved around the board, return to the stable door. When returning to the stable door, you can still be kicked by your opponent. Only when climbing into the stable can this be avoided.
Players must bring all 4 chess pieces back to the stable (the same color as the chosen chess piece) in order of 6, 5, 4, 3 to win.

See also: Detailed guide

3 How to play horseback chess

Preparation

Prepare a set of horseback chess

You need to prepare a set of horseback chess to play, a set of horseback chess includes:

A square board divided into four parts, each part is a different color (blue, green, red, yellow).
Four dice and a cup/bowl to shake the dice.
16 chess pieces are divided into four colors corresponding to the board, with four horse-shaped pieces of each color.

Players

In this game, you need a minimum of 2 players and a maximum of 4 players to play.

Board

The horseback chessboard is divided into 4 parts with different colors

The board is divided into 4 parts with different colors:

Each part will have a large circle to place the chess pieces before the start of the game.
Next are the small circles, which will be where the chess pieces are placed to move, when the player starts to deploy, the first chess piece will be placed in the bold small circle and move counterclockwise.
The numbers from 1 to 6 will be the destination of the player when moving the entire distance, arranging the chess pieces correctly into the 6, 5, 4, 3 boxes will win.

Detailed rules

Order of players

Participants will start throwing dice, and when a player throws pairs of dice 1-1, 1-6, 6-6, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 will start deploying troops and stand at the starting position. If the player does not get one of these results, he is not allowed to deploy troops and give up the turn to throw the dice to the next person.

Deploy troops

Deploy troops when throwing dice are pairs of 1-6, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6

Deploying troops is the right to send a chess piece to move on the board. If a player throws a pair of dice with the results 1-6, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, then they will get an extra turn until they throw a different result.

Move

When there is at least 1 chess piece on the board, the player can move based on the result of throwing the dice, the result is the number of steps that will be moved. At this point, there will be a number of situations:

Blocked: When moving, the player will encounter another chess piece standing in front of them and the distance between that chess piece and the player’s chess piece is less than the result of throwing the dice. In this case, the player can only choose another chess piece to move and cannot pass or move backwards.
Kick: If the distance between the two chess pieces is equal to the result of throwing the dice, then the player can kick the chess piece standing at that position (do not kick their own chess piece) or move another chess piece.

Detailed rules of horseback chess

Close button: When the player’s chess piece is standing right next to the opponent’s chess piece.
Back to the stable door: When you have moved a full circle, the chess piece will stand in front of the stable door. At this point, the player must enter the stable or else be kicked by another chess piece.

Enter the stable

The chess piece will be placed in the stable depending on the result of throwing the dice, it can go straight to box 6 or start from the lower boxes but then it must advance gradually (For example: If you enter box 2, you must gradually advance to boxes 3, 4, 5, 6).
There are situations that depend on the agreement at the beginning of the game, you will be rewarded if you bid (go straight to box 6) or be fined by the whole village if you collapse into the pit (enter the stable from box 1).
If you don’t want to advance gradually from the lower boxes, the player can skip that turn and wait for the next turn. Although this is a risky way to play, if you roll a 6, you will be allowed to go straight to box 6 to bid.

4Where to play horseback chess online?

If you cannot prepare the necessary equipment to play horseback chess, don’t worry. You can refer to playing horseback chess on some websites and applications below:

gamevui.vn website
Game24h.vn website
Application: Horseback Chess Board Game Online (for Android)
Application: Horseback Chess: 2-4 Player Game (for Android)
ZingPlay application

Where to play horseback chess online?

See also: for beginners

The above is the rule of horseback chess for beginners, we hope that this game will bring you great relaxation in the last days of this year.

Frequently asked questions

Co Ca Ngua is a popular Vietnamese board game, often referred to as Vietnamese Chess or ‘The Game of the Horse and the Donkey’. It is a strategy game for two players, and is a variation of a Chinese game called ‘Luobo’ or ‘Polo’ which dates back to the 17th century.

The game is played on a board with a 9×9 grid. Each player has 12 pieces, including a horse, a donkey, 2 elephants, 2 cannons, 2 advisors, 2 soldiers and 8 pawns. The objective is to capture the opponent’s horse or occupy their palace. Each piece has a specific way of moving and capturing, with the horse being the most powerful piece.

The game has a set of rules that govern how each piece can move and capture. For example, the horse can move one step horizontally or vertically, and then one step diagonally in the same direction. The donkey moves one step diagonally. Elephants move two steps diagonally and can jump over other pieces. Cannons capture by jumping over an adjacent piece to capture an opponent’s piece on the other side. Advisors move one step diagonally and soldiers move one step forward or one step diagonally forward. Pawns move one step forward.

Some basic strategies include protecting your horse at all costs, as it is the most powerful piece. It is also important to control the center of the board and to create a strong defense around your palace. Using your cannons effectively is key, as they are the only pieces that can capture without moving.

Practice is key to improving your skills in Co Ca Ngua. Playing against different opponents will help you develop new strategies and understand the game better. Studying the rules and movements of each piece is also important, so that you can make the most of your turns and anticipate your opponent’s moves.