De Schafendief and Buffalo: Some thoughts about identical development by Fred Horn (with input by Kerry Handscomb)
The goal of this article is to present an example of parallel and independent development of two games that have remarkable similarities, De Schapendief [The Sheep Thief], a Dutch game from around 1900, and Alex Randolph's Buffalo Chess (or just Buffalo), first published in 1975. The most astounding and well known example of parallel and independent development of games is of course Hex, by Piet Hein (1942) and John Nash (1947). Perhaps De Schapendief and Buffalo is a less surprising case, because both games are extensions of the classic game of unequal forces, Fox and Geese, whose antecendents go back to the Middle Ages.
Fox and Geese
Fox and Geese is the classical chessboard game of unequal forces, where four Geese, moving like men in English Draughts try to slip past a Fox, which moves like a king in English Draughts. There is no capturing. The Fox attempts to cross the board to the other side to win, and the Geese to hem the Fox in so he can't move. The Fox moves first.
Fox and Geese
Fox and Geese is the classical chessboard game of unequal forces, where four Geese, moving like men in English Draughts try to slip past a Fox, which moves like a king in English Draughts. There is no capturing. The Fox attempts to cross the board to the other side to win, and the Geese to hem the Fox in so he can't move. The Fox moves first.
Fox and Geese opening position
In AG8, we published an article by John Beasley, "Moving on from Fox and Geese." John explains the base game and rightly claims the Geese should always win with good play. He goes on to analyze his own sophisticated extension of Fox and Geese, which he calls Rugby Chess.
The chessboard version of Fox and Geese is perhaps the simplest representative of the large and ancient family of hunt and chase games of unequal forces. Although Fox and Geese does not allow capturing, some versions of the game do. Asalto, for example, and its multitudinous variants, permit the less numerous side to capture—as do De Schafendief and Buffalo. The two games under consideration, therefore, are more nearly developments of Asalto rather than Fox and Geese.
De Schafendief
Published in 1900 by B. Jacobs, Groningen, Netherlands
The chessboard version of Fox and Geese is perhaps the simplest representative of the large and ancient family of hunt and chase games of unequal forces. Although Fox and Geese does not allow capturing, some versions of the game do. Asalto, for example, and its multitudinous variants, permit the less numerous side to capture—as do De Schafendief and Buffalo. The two games under consideration, therefore, are more nearly developments of Asalto rather than Fox and Geese.
De Schafendief
Published in 1900 by B. Jacobs, Groningen, Netherlands
De Schafendief board, from the Fred Horn Collection, Vlaams Spellen Archief, Brugge Belgium
This game is for two players, the Shepherd and the Thief. The Shepherd has 16 Sheep on his side, and the Thief has three Dogs. The Shepherd and Sheep are placed at the bottom of the board, as shown below, whereas the Thief and Dogs start off at the top of the board. The Thief can choose to place the Dogs one each in the third, fourth and fifth ranks, anywhere within these ranks.
De Schapendiep example opening position
The players take turns to move one of their pieces each turn. The Shepherd moves first.
A Sheep that has reached the "grasslands," and is safe. The Thief will pay the Shepherd one counter at the end of the game for each Sheep that reaches the grasslands; the Shepherd must pay the Thief one counter at the end of the game for each captured Sheep to buy it back; if the Shepherd himself is caught, he must pay five counters ransom at the end of the game.
The rules so far are a free translation of the original Dutch rules, and they are clearly incomplete. Fred Horn makes the following comments and suggestions towards formulating a complete set of rules:
Buffalo
Alex Randolph's game Buffalo was originally published as Prairie by Pelikan in 1975. It went through various editions, including Trespass by Lakeside in 1979, and then Buffalo by Piatnik in 1999.
Buffalo was reviewed by Greg Aleknevicus in The Game Journal, who compared the game with Fox and Geese, or rather with Fox and Hounds, another name for the same game.
- A Sheep moves one square orthogonally, directly forward to a vacant square; a Sheep on the sixth rank can move off the board to the safety of the "grasslands."
- A Dog moves sideways in his own row, two squares at a time; the first of the two squares must be empty.
- Shepherd and Thief move one square in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally to vacant square.
- A Dog can move to a square occupied by a Sheep, which is captured and removed from the game.
A Sheep that has reached the "grasslands," and is safe. The Thief will pay the Shepherd one counter at the end of the game for each Sheep that reaches the grasslands; the Shepherd must pay the Thief one counter at the end of the game for each captured Sheep to buy it back; if the Shepherd himself is caught, he must pay five counters ransom at the end of the game.
The rules so far are a free translation of the original Dutch rules, and they are clearly incomplete. Fred Horn makes the following comments and suggestions towards formulating a complete set of rules:
- The rules do not specify whether the Thief can capture although they do imply that the Shepherd can be captured. A reasonable solution is to allow the Thief, but not the Dogs, to capture the Shepherd and only the Shepherd, not the Sheep. However, the game appears flawed if this is the case, because each Dog can otherwise permanently block two Sheep from moving forward. A solution is to allow the Thief also to capture Sheep and the Shepherd also to capture Dogs.
- The rules specify the final destination of the Sheep, but not the Shepherd. A solution is to allow the Shepherd also to move off the board into the "grasslands."
- The rules do not specify how the game ends, but we may suppose this happens when all Sheep and Shepherd have either been captured, have reached the grasslands.
Buffalo
Alex Randolph's game Buffalo was originally published as Prairie by Pelikan in 1975. It went through various editions, including Trespass by Lakeside in 1979, and then Buffalo by Piatnik in 1999.
Buffalo was reviewed by Greg Aleknevicus in The Game Journal, who compared the game with Fox and Geese, or rather with Fox and Hounds, another name for the same game.
Buffalo: The 1999 Piatnik edition
Buffalo is a game for two players. One player has eleven Buffaloes, the other player has one Indian Chief and four Dogs. The 11x7 board is marked with two blue lines, the Rivers. The opening setup is shown in the diagram below. The eleven Buffaloes are lined up behind the River at one end of the board, whereas the Indian Chief and four Dogs are arranged in front of the River at the other end.
Buffalo opening setup
The players take turns to move one of their pieces each turn. The Buffalo player moves first.
The Buffalo player wins if just one of the Buffaloes crosses the River on the far side of the board; the Indian Chief player wins by capturing all the Buffaloes or by blocking any remaining Buffaloes with Dogs so the Buffaloes cannot move.
Conclusion
You will note that De Schafendief is a significant development of the Fox and Geese or Asalto genre by the fact that each side has two kinds of piece, not one—which is the norm with the game. Likewise Buffalo adds an extra piece, although this time on just one side. Like the Sheep in De Schafendief, the Buffaloes move just one square directly forward and can be blocked by the opposing Dogs—"Dogs" in both games! The Thief in De Schafendief likewise has exactly the same move and role as the Indian Chief in Buffalo. Of course, there are differences between the two games, but frankly Buffalo looks like an updating and simplification of the older game.
Did Alex Randolph plagiarize an old game? Of course not! We cannot believe that Alex should have done such a thing, use a game-mechanism without reference to the original. Moreover, the original De Schafendief is only known in Holland, was never ever published after its first printing, and the rules are written only in Dutch. De Schafendief is only known, in other words, to serious collectors of vintage Dutch games.
In personal communication with Michel Matschoss, who knew Alex Randolph very well, Fred brought up the similarities between the two games. Michel replied,
"Thank you very much for this information. I played Buffalo with Alex quite often and I believe, the game was initiated by the final phase of Chess, when there are only a few pawns left on one side and Rook and Queen on the other side. Anyway, an interesting discovery."
So, there we are. I think we can class De Schafendief and Buffalo as a true example of that much talked about phenomenon, where the same thing is invented independently by two different people, this time with the best part of a century separating the two. Perhaps the case of these two games is not as surprising as Hex, but it remarkable nevertheless.
- A Buffalo moves one square orthogonally, directly forward to a vacant square; Buffaloes can cross either River; Buffaloes cannot capture.
- A Dog moves like a Queen in Chess, any number of vacant squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally; Dogs cannot cross either River; Dogs cannot capture, but can block a Buffalo's movement.
- The Indian Chief moves one square in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally; the Indian Chief cannot cross either River; the Indian Chief can move to a square occupied by a Buffalo and capture it; the Indian Chief cannot move to squares occupied by his own Dogs.
The Buffalo player wins if just one of the Buffaloes crosses the River on the far side of the board; the Indian Chief player wins by capturing all the Buffaloes or by blocking any remaining Buffaloes with Dogs so the Buffaloes cannot move.
Conclusion
You will note that De Schafendief is a significant development of the Fox and Geese or Asalto genre by the fact that each side has two kinds of piece, not one—which is the norm with the game. Likewise Buffalo adds an extra piece, although this time on just one side. Like the Sheep in De Schafendief, the Buffaloes move just one square directly forward and can be blocked by the opposing Dogs—"Dogs" in both games! The Thief in De Schafendief likewise has exactly the same move and role as the Indian Chief in Buffalo. Of course, there are differences between the two games, but frankly Buffalo looks like an updating and simplification of the older game.
Did Alex Randolph plagiarize an old game? Of course not! We cannot believe that Alex should have done such a thing, use a game-mechanism without reference to the original. Moreover, the original De Schafendief is only known in Holland, was never ever published after its first printing, and the rules are written only in Dutch. De Schafendief is only known, in other words, to serious collectors of vintage Dutch games.
In personal communication with Michel Matschoss, who knew Alex Randolph very well, Fred brought up the similarities between the two games. Michel replied,
"Thank you very much for this information. I played Buffalo with Alex quite often and I believe, the game was initiated by the final phase of Chess, when there are only a few pawns left on one side and Rook and Queen on the other side. Anyway, an interesting discovery."
So, there we are. I think we can class De Schafendief and Buffalo as a true example of that much talked about phenomenon, where the same thing is invented independently by two different people, this time with the best part of a century separating the two. Perhaps the case of these two games is not as surprising as Hex, but it remarkable nevertheless.