Fox hunt is a board game for two players*. It is played on ruled grids on which each player's foxes are marked. The locations of the foxes are concealed from the other player. Players alternate turns calling "shots" at the other player's foxes, and the objective of the game is to discover all the opposing player's foxes. Name came from sport: Fox hunt game loosely reminds ARDF a.k.a.T-hunting (wikipedia).

* one-player version described below

Rules

1. Grid Setup:

   • Before starting, players secretly hide foxes on their grid. 

   • Note: Multiple foxes cannot be placed in one square. 

2. Game Rounds:

   • The game progresses in rounds.

   • Each player takes turns choosing a target square on the opponent grid to shoot at.

3. Shooting Mechanics:

   • If the chosen square is occupied by a fox, the opponent announces the discovery of the fox.

   • If the square is empty, the opponent reveals how many foxes are visible from that square.

4. Visibility Count (see the picture above):

   • The count includes foxes in a straight line horizontally, vertically, or diagonally from the chosen square.

   • Previously discovered foxes also contribute to the count.

The goal is to strategically locate and uncover your opponent's hidden foxes

Privacy policy: No personal information is collected whilst users play Fox hunting board games. Google AdMob privacy policy (third-party advertisers may use coarse location and device id). 

Chess metaphor. Calculation of "visible foxes" can be illustrated by applying chess terminology: the attacking player sets the Queen in a target square in the opposing player's board, and the opponent tells how many foxes the Queen is able to take. (For the reference: Queen moves horizontally, vertically and diagonally - as Rook and Bishop, combined). 

Game could be recorded in chess style: 

1. B4 - fox A7 - 3

2. B7 - 1  D3 - 5

3.  ...    ...

App "Fox-on-paper" can help (1) to calculate the number of visible foxes that you need to announce to your opponent at missed shot, (2) to keep records of your shots on the "target" grid. Before play begins you arrange 8 foxes on your "primary" 10x10 grid. Your opponent do the same on its "primary" grid (using its own smartphone). You can play using smartphones only, or you can play on real paper for fun, using smartphone as assistant to avoid miscalculations of visible foxes (the most critical error, which ruins all the game). 

App "Fox classic" lets you play against computer, you don't need an opponent. The game is played on one grid (your "target" grid). Computer randomly sets 8 foxes on 10x10 grid. The objective of the game is to discover all hidden foxes using minimal number of shots. (Hint: if computer tells "0", no foxes in horizontal, vertical, diagonal lines crossing the target square. You can mark all squares in those lines as empty ones.) "Hit me!" help can be used once, it open several squares, which are not counted as moves. 

Game against computer could be recorded in simplified style:

1. E2 - 0

2. D4 - fox

3. ...

App "Fox-Chess" animates Queen, calculating visible foxes on 8x8 chess board. You play against the computer. No marks allowed, which makes game harder compare to classic one (but the board is smaller and has light-dark chequered pattern, which makes game easier). Need to find 6 foxes.

App "Foxdoku" uses Sudoku board. Need to find 9 foxes, each in 3x3 block. No mark (two-click) mode. Each game started with random preset (few squares opened by computer for you).

Example: Fox-on-paper

No need computer/phone, but need friend (opponent) to play. You can use paper and pencils. And calculate numbers manually or use app as an assistant.

Another example: How to solve Foxdoku (Fox hunt on Sudoku board)

Fox-Chess (Queen animation and Pawns as Foxes)

Classic Fox hunt (+ example on small board)

Fox board set includes classic 10x10 game against the computer with 8 hidden foxes. It offers an option to get cues (via button "hit me!') once. 

The two-click mode helps mark squares where no foxes are located. The first click marks the square, and the second click 'opens' it, revealing either a fox or a count number (see Rules above).

Preset moves ('hit me!') are not counted. The maximum number of cue moves is 10, but this decreases as the game progresses and the number of empty squares diminishes. 

Players can choose not to press 'hit me!' button. As a result, the number of moves required to find all the foxes is typically greater than in "easy" mode. For this reason, it makes sense to keep separate records for "hard" and "easy" modes — the number of moves in "easy" mode approximately equals the moves in "hard" mode minus 10.

Fox hunting combines guessing and logic, with more and more logical moves as the game progresses. Can we estimate the probability of finding a fox at a certain move?

Let’s illustrate the concept on a small board (for the sake of compactness, the method is the same for larger boards). Here, we are seeking 3 foxes on a 4x4 board.

Moves 3, 4, 6 opened logic. Full range for 4x4@3 is from 3 moves (extremely lucky: each moves open a fox) to 16 (check every square). We did in 8 moves.