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Vietnam

Cờ chân chó

Also called dog's-paw chess

Cờ chân chó is a Vietnamese children's game, drawn in chalk or in the dirt and played with stones or bottle tops.

Its name, "dog's paw", comes from the shape of the lines. It belongs to a family of small blocking games played on a few points, like pong hau k'i in China, where the aim is to leave your opponent no move.

The rules, briefly

• A small square board of points joined by lines, with both diagonals drawn.
• Move one of your pieces one step along a line to an empty point. Nothing is ever captured.
• If it is your turn and none of your pieces can move, you lose.

Try this: Leave one door

Every move closes a door for someone. Before you move, count how many moves your friend will have left.

Play on AtlasTales (two players, one screen)

Read more: Cờ chân chó on Wikipedia. Written from published sources; if your family plays it differently, write your rules down in Heirloom Rules, and if something here is wrong, tell us: hello@sparkanvil.org.