Adugo

Lore & Background

In adugo, the jaguar ('adugo' in Bororo's language) hunts the dogs ('arikau'). The game is also known as jaguar and dogs. The origin of the alquerque board in Adugo is not definitively attributed to Spanish introduction; it remains an open question. The board was initially drawn on the ground with stones as pieces.

Reader's Guide

Adugo is a significant example of indigenous abstract strategy games from the Americas, specifically from the Bororo tribe in Brazil. Its use of an alquerque-based board links it to games brought by the Spanish, illustrating cultural exchange. The game is a tiger hunt game, closely related to komikan (named by the Mapuches in Chile) and other Southeast Asian and Indian hunting games. The rules are simple: the jaguar moves first, can capture by short leap as in draughts or alquerque, while the dogs cannot capture but only corner the jaguar. The game ends when the jaguar is immobilized (dogs win) or captures five dogs (jaguar wins). Adugo preserves traditional gameplay and reflects strategic thinking in Bororo culture.

Did You Know?

• Adugo is also called Jogo da Onça, meaning 'Jaguar Game' in Brazilian Portuguese.
• The jaguar piece is called 'adugo' in the Bororo language, and the dogs are called 'arikau'.
• The board is an expanded alquerque board with one triangular patterned side.
• Komikan, played by the Mapuche in Chile, is a distinct game with different rules and board layout, not the same as Adugo.

Cultural Origins & the Bororo Hunting Tradition

Adugo, which translates to "Jaguar Game" in Brazilian Portuguese, is a two-player abstract strategy game born within the Bororo tribe of Brazil's Pantanal region. At its heart, the game dramatizes a classic predator-prey dynamic: a single jaguar, called "adugo" in the Bororo language, pursues a pack of fourteen dogs known as "arikau." This makes it a hunting game in the truest sense, and it is often referred to simply as "jaguar and dogs." The Bororo tradition of encoding survival narratives into board games places Adugo within a broader family of hunting games found across Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Rather than being an isolated invention, the game reflects a shared human impulse to simulate the tension between a lone apex hunter and a coordinated group of smaller animals. The abstract, two-player format strips away narrative embellishment while preserving the strategic essence of the chase, making it a distilled expression of the Bororo relationship with the Pantanal's iconic wildlife.

The Board, Pieces & Grounded Origins

The playing surface for Adugo is an expanded alquerque board distinguished by a triangular patterned section attached to one of its sides. This hybrid layout gives the game a unique geometric identity while retaining the structural lineage of the alquerque tradition. On this board, a single black jaguar piece faces off against fourteen dogs rendered in white or brown, though the rules permit any two distinguishable colors or piece types. What is particularly striking is the game's humble material origins: the board was originally drawn directly into the ground, and the pieces were simply stones. This means Adugo was not a product of manufactured luxury but of open-air play, likely set up and abandoned as easily as a campfire. The contrast between the game's elegant strategic depth and its ephemeral, earth-bound presentation underscores how the Bororo players valued the intellectual contest over any physical artifact. The triangular extension on one side adds an asymmetry that influences opening positions and endgame tactics, making the board itself a strategic element rather than a neutral canvas.

Rules, Movement & the Asymmetric Duel

In Adugo, the jaguar begins play at the central point of the alquerque board, while all fourteen dogs are positioned on the half opposite the triangular patterned section. Players first choose which animal they will command, and the jaguar always takes the first move. From that point on, turns alternate strictly, with only one piece moved or used for capture per turn. Both the jaguar and the dogs advance one space at a time along the lines of the board. The critical asymmetry lies in capture: the jaguar can take a dog by executing a short leap, jumping over an adjacent dog and landing on the empty point directly beyond it in a straight line, in the same manner as a draughts or alquerque capture. The dogs, by contrast, have no capture ability whatsoever; their sole offensive tool is to surround and corner the jaguar until it has no legal move. Victory for the jaguar comes by capturing five dogs, while the dogs win by immobilizing their opponent entirely.

Global Family & the Alquerque Connection

Adugo does not exist in isolation; it belongs to a wide family of hunting games that share a common structural DNA. Games such as komikan, rimau, rimau-rimau, main tapal empat, and bagha-chall all employ an alquerque-based board and follow the same fundamental pattern of a single predator pursued by multiple prey pieces. The connection to komikan is especially notable, as scholars have suggested it may in fact be the identical game under a different name. Komikan is the term used by the Mapuche people of Chile, suggesting that the game crossed vast geographic distances. The most widely accepted explanation for the alquerque board's presence in South America is that Spanish colonizers carried the game from Europe to the New World, where it was absorbed into indigenous traditions and reimagined as a jaguar hunt. This transmission turned a European abstract game into a Bororo cultural artifact, blending Old World geometry with New World ecology in a single, elegant two-player contest.