Ca Ngua — a beginner's guide (English)

Cờ Cá Ngựa ("Vietnamese Horse Racing") is Vietnam's classic pachisi-style race game for 2–4 players, each with 4 horses (red, yellow, blue, green). Horses run one counter-clockwise lap around the board, then turn into their private 6-cell stable (chuồng). Fill the stable first and you win.

One die only. A horse leaves the stable only on a roll of 1 or 6; rolling 1 or 6 also grants a bonus roll.

Movement: move one of your horses exactly the rolled number of cells. You may not pass any horse — if the path is blocked, pick another horse or lose the turn. Your own horses never stack on the ring.

Kicking: land exactly on an enemy horse and it is kicked all the way back to its stable — half racing, half sabotage.

Finish: after a full lap, horses enter the private stable. The first player to fill stable cells {6, 5, 4, 3} wins. Entering a stable cell requires the exact roll — overshoot and you wait for the next turn.

Tip: don't launch all four horses at once — send one ahead as a scout and keep reserves to exploit bonus rolls. Late in the game, prioritize getting horses home over kicking opponents; a beautiful kick doesn't make up for a horse that's one turn late.

Play free at cangua.synerworlds.com — vs-AI (1–3 computer opponents) or 2–4 player rooms to challenge friends. No install needed.