This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Catch the hare" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(December 2023)
Catch the hare is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Europe, and perhaps specifically from Spain. It is a hunt game, and since it uses a standard alquerque board from the game alquerque de doze,[1]: 601 it is specifically a tiger hunt game (or tiger game). In some variants, some or all of the diagonal lines are missing which makes it difficult to classify as a tiger game in general. One hare is going up against ten to twelve opponents[1]: 601–602 (hunters or hounds). The hare is the "tiger" in this hunt game which is prey and predator at the same time. The hare can capture the opponents by leaping over them (short leap method).[1]: 601 The opponents attempt to surround and trap the hare.[1]: 601–602
The game is the earliest recorded hunt game in Europe, and perhaps even the first hunt game from Europe (other than bear games and hare games). The earliest record of the game is in Alfonso X's "Libro de los juegos" or "Book of Games" in 1283. The record shows a game called cercar la liebre, a game played in Spain from the 13th. century until today. Cercar la liebre means "corner the rabbit",[1]: 601 but it was the game historian H.J.R. Murray who (perhaps mistakenly) called it "Catch the Hare".[1]: 602 The Moors may have brought the game to Spain since it uses an alquerque board, however, there is no record of the game or any similar game in Arabic literature. Cercar la liebre evolved into many variants around the world including the games of Fox and Geese.[1]: 618 The game has spread to Central and North America thanks to the Spanish who brought it with them during their conquest. The game was transformed in name and structure by the American natives. The new names given were pon chochotl or coyote and chickens according to game historians Stewart Culin and David Parlett, and "they were played by the Papago Indians of Arizona and the Tew Tribe of New Mexico who play on the same board as Alfonso’s cercar la liebre",[1]: 621 and Indian and jackrabbits which are things found in the Americas. Mexicans play on one version with only two main diagonals,[1]: 621 and this is described by Stewart Culin in his book Chess and Playing Cards: Catalogue of Games and Implements for Divination Exhibited by the United States National Museum in Connection with the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology of the University of Pennsylvania at the Cotton States and International Exposition (1895), and calls it coyote, a game from Mexico, with only the main diagonal lines present.[2] In some cases the diagonal lines were completely removed making it difficult to classify with the other tiger games such as bagh-chal, rimau-rimau, and buga-shadara. Other hunt games such as sua ghin gnua and tiger and buffaloes also do not have diagonal lines but may still be classified as tiger games.
Today, cercar la liebre is still popular in Spain under the name juego de la liebre.
^ abcdefghiGollady, Sonja Musser (2007). Los Libros de Acedrex Dados E Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X's Book of Games(PDF). Retrieved 2016-06-29.
^Culin, Stewart (1898). Exhibited by the United States National Museum in Connection with the Department of Archaeology and Paleontology of the University of Pennsylvania at the Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 876. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
Catchthehare is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Europe, and perhaps specifically from Spain. It is a hunt game, and since it uses a standard...
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus Lepus. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called...
failed to catchthehare while out hunting, he joins a group of sportsmen, "with pedigree greyhounds", to hunt thehare, who eludes them. The following...
The Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with...
"capture" game while the prey is playing a "positional" game. Aadu puli attam Adugo Asalto Bagh bandi Bagha-chall Buga-shadara Catchthehare (aka cercar la...
components, thehares and hash names. Thehare is chosen on the spot, given flour, a destination, and a one-minute head start. Whoever catchesthehare, becomes...
week. The maxi single contains four tracks, including "HareHare" and its B-side "Catch a Wave", with instrumental versions of both songs. "HareHare" is...
to successfully hunt a stag is with the other's help. One hunter can catch a hare alone with less effort and less time, but it is worth far less than a...
Beginning in the nineteenth century, Glasse has been widely credited with having started the recipe with the words "First, catch your hare". This attribution...
"The Tortoise and theHare" is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 226 in the Perry Index. The account of a race between unequal partners has attracted...
Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase thehare by sight, not by scent. In some countries, it is a legal...
The beagle is a breed of small scent hound, similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle was developed primarily for hunting hare, known...
facsimile of the 1747 edition of The Art of Cookery under the title First Catch Your Hare, with introductory essays by Stead and the food historian Priscilla...
Ghin Gnua most resembles the tiger hunt games (or tiger games) such as bagh-chal, rimau-rimau, main tapal empat, catchthehare, and adugo since they all...
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and...
classified as one. Examples of tiger games are bagh-chal, rimau-rimau, and catchthehare. Tiger games usually consist of a standard Alquerque board which is...
Rithmomachy or "the philosophers game", alquerque, fox & geese, nine men's morris, draughts, nim, catchthehare and the game of the goose. Dice games...
the puppies follow the hounds while hunting and eventually let them catchthehare and let them have her. They are to be fed when they are near the nets...
stating "First catch your hare. This direction is generally attributed to Hannah Glasse, habit-maker to the Prince of Wales, and author of The Art of Cookery...
a hare with his dogs. He came upon a large bramble, in which a virgin was praying with thehare under her hem. Brochwel urged his dogs to catchthe hare...
Stewart Culin's 1907 book, the Zunis claim that they had adopted a hunt game from Mexico similar to catchthehare and the fox games of Europe, and transformed...
similar to catchthehare, the fox games of Europe, and the tiger and leopard games of Asia, because they use very similar boards, and the game mechanics...
Fresh Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, written by Michael Maltese, and produced by Leon Schlesinger. It was released...
Another painting, HaresCatchthe Hunters, shows the triumph of good over evil. Alternatively, when an eagle pursues thehare, the eagle can be seen as...
Falling Hare is a 1943 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon features Bugs Bunny. In this film, Bugs Bunny tries...
Global Information