Petits chevaux

How to play petits chevaux online

Choose 2, 3 or 4 players, type your name and press Play vs computer. Each player has four horses in the écurie, the stable in a coloured corner. On your turn tap your dice box (or press Space) to roll. The horses you can move glow, and you tap one to move it. If only one move is possible and Auto-move is on, the game plays it for you.

The aim is to bring all four horses once round the 56-square track, up your own escalier and onto the case centrale in the middle of the board. The first player to put all four horses on the centre wins. Switch Quick game off if you want to play on for second and third place.

• Roll a 6 to bring a horse out of the stable onto your starting square, then roll again.
• Move one horse clockwise by the number rolled.
• Land exactly on an opponent's horse to send it back to its stable.
• After a full lap, climb the escalier of six steps, then step onto the case centrale.
• You need the exact number to land on the centre.

Règles des petits chevaux: the board

The board is a cross. A ring of 56 squares runs round the outside, shared by all colours. Each player has a stable in one corner (the écurie), a starting square on the ring and an escalier, a lane of six coloured steps that leads from the ring toward the middle. At the very centre of the board is the case centrale, the square every horse is trying to reach.

Horses travel clockwise. A horse that has left the stable stands on its starting square and goes all the way round the ring. When it comes back to the last ring square before its starting square it turns off into its own escalier instead of passing the start again. Only your own horses use your escalier, so nothing can be captured on it. The case centrale sits at the end of the climb and has room for every horse.

How do you leave the stable? The 6 and the three tries

A horse can only leave the écurie with a 6. It is placed on your starting square, and because every 6 gives another roll you roll again straight away. If you roll a 6 with no horse left in the stable you move a horse on the board by six and roll again, so a 6 is never wasted.

When all four of your horses are in the stable you do not wait a full round for a 6: you roll up to three times in a row, and the turn passes only after the third miss. As soon as you have a horse on the board you roll just once per turn, plus the extra roll after each 6. In the house rules you can switch the three tries off, or change the entry roll to a 1 or a 6, which some families play.

Can you capture a horse? Variants of la prise

Yes. If your horse ends its move exactly on a square holding an opponent's horse, the opponent's horse goes back to its stable and has to wait for a 6 again. You may move past other horses on the ring without touching them, so horses do not block each other unless you turn the barrage variant on. You cannot capture on the escalier or on the case centrale.

Families play the capture differently, so we include the common variants as options. In the standard setting a horse leaving the stable captures an opponent standing on your starting square. You can instead protect starting squares, so a horse standing on its own starting square cannot be taken. You can make capturing compulsory, so you must hit when you can, give another roll for a capture, or let two horses on one square form a barrage that opponents can neither pass nor land on.

• Entry capture: a horse leaving the stable captures an opponent on your starting square (on by default).
• Protected starting squares: nobody can capture a horse on its own starting square (off by default).
• Compulsory capture: if a move captures, you must make it (off by default).
• Roll again after a capture (off by default).
• Barrage: two horses of one colour on a square block opponents (off by default).

The escalier and the exact roll to the case centrale

After a full lap a horse turns into the escalier. It has six steps and the case centrale lies just beyond the last one. To land on the centre you need the exact number: a horse on the last ring square needs a total of seven steps to reach it, a horse on the top step of the escalier needs a 1 and so on. A roll that would take the horse beyond the centre cannot be used by that horse, and you must move another horse or lose the turn if none can move.

That is why finishing takes patience. With three horses already on the centre and one waiting, you may need a particular number and wait several turns. It is also why a 6 matters twice: it brings horses out of the stable and it is the biggest jump up the staircase when the count fits. Any horse can use any roll that fits, so use small numbers for the horse that is close and big ones for the others.

How many people can play petits chevaux?

Two to four. The board is made for four, and some printed boards add two more colours, but here you play with 2, 3 or 4 and the computer takes any empty seats. With two players you can sit opposite each other or side by side. Online, up to three friends can join your room by link or room code, with chat and voice chat in the game, and a quick match button finds other players if you are alone.

To play with friends, press Invite friends, send the link on WhatsApp or copy it, and wait until everyone has appeared in the lobby. As the host you choose the rules and the guests can see them before the game starts.

Petits chevaux strategy: how to win

Luck is a large part of petits chevaux, but your choices decide close games. First, get a second horse out before running the first one far ahead. With two horses on the board every roll has a useful use, and you are less likely to be forced into a bad move.

Second, watch the distance. A horse is in danger from every opponent horse that stands one to six squares behind it, about one chance in six per horse per turn. When you have a choice, move so that your most advanced horses are out of range, and leave a less valuable horse as the target. Third, plan the climb: bring a horse to the last ring squares early so that small numbers can finish it, and keep a spare horse to use rolls that do not fit.

Against the Hard computer, expect it to capture whenever it is worth it and to avoid squares just in front of your horses. It also looks at what the next player could roll after its move, so cautious play and waiting for a good number often beat racing.

Variants and house rules of the jeu des petits chevaux

Rules differ from one family and one box to the next. In the house rules you can pick 6 only or 1 or 6 to leave the stable, switch the three tries, the extra roll after a 6, compulsory capture, protected starting squares, capture on exit and the barrage on or off, choose between ending at the first winner or playing for places, pick who starts, and add a turn timer.

Petits chevaux belongs to the same family as Ludo, Mensch ärgere dich nicht and Parchís. Compared with Ludo it has no safe star squares and no blockades by default, and compared with Parchís it uses one die. Our comparison of Ludo, Mensch ärgere dich nicht, Parchís and Petits chevaux sets out the differences in one place.

Jouer aux petits chevaux en ligne: les règles en français

Jouer aux petits chevaux en ligne gratuitement : ici vous jouez au jeu des petits chevaux contre l'ordinateur ou avec des amis grâce à un lien, sans téléchargement et sans inscription. Chaque joueur a quatre chevaux dans son écurie. Il faut faire un 6 pour sortir un cheval sur sa case de départ, et un 6 permet de rejouer. Si tous vos chevaux sont à l'écurie, vous avez trois essais pour obtenir un 6. Un cheval qui tombe exactement sur un cheval adverse le renvoie à son écurie. Après un tour complet de 56 cases, le cheval monte l'escalier et doit arriver sur la case centrale avec le chiffre exact. Le premier joueur dont les quatre chevaux sont au centre gagne. Les règles optionnelles (prise obligatoire, départs protégés, barrage, rejouer après une prise) se choisissent dans les règles de la maison.