Macanan ("tiger game") is the Javanese member of the tiger-hunt family found from India through Southeast Asia. One player commands a small number of tigers that capture by jumping; the other floods the board with men and tries to trap them.
Variant implemented
Javanese Macanan on the extended alquerque board: 2 tigers vs 21 men, drop phase then movement phase, tigers capture by short jump.
Board and pieces
An extended alquerque board: a 5×5 lattice with a three-point wing on each side, 31 points in total.
Setup
Two tigers start on the middle row. The men player begins with 21 men in hand and none on the board.
Turn
The men player opens by placing one man on any empty point. Once every man has been placed, they move one step along a drawn line instead. Tigers always move one step, or jump.
Capture and scoring
A tiger captures by jumping an adjacent man to the empty point directly beyond, along a drawn line. Men never capture.
Win condition
The tigers win by eating eight men. The men win by immobilising both tigers so that neither has a legal move.
Draw condition
A long stretch with no capture ends the game as a draw.
Special rules
The two sides are deliberately asymmetric. The lobby always shows which side you are taking.
Computer opponent
Alpha-beta with jump-first ordering. Depth is capped during the drop phase because the branching factor is very wide there. The evaluation rewards tigers for captures and mobility, and men for forming mutually defending clusters.