Sixteen Soldiers vs Alquerque: 16 Pieces or 12?

Sixteen Soldiers

Alquerque

The Verdict

Both are leap-capture games on a lined lattice, and Sixteen Soldiers is the South Asian relative of the medieval Alquerque. The differences are the board and the army: Alquerque is a plain 5x5 lattice of 25 points with twelve pieces a side, while Sixteen Soldiers adds two triangular extensions for 37 points and sixteen pieces a side. Alquerque makes captures mandatory; Sixteen Soldiers lets you choose, which changes how endgames finish.

Side by Side

	Sixteen Soldiers	Alquerque
Players	2	2
Board	37 points - 5x5 lattice + 2 triangles	25 points - plain 5x5 lattice
Pieces per side	16	12
Empty points at start	5 (the middle row)	1 (the centre)
Movement	One step along any marked line	One step along any marked line
Capture	Short leap, any direction, chains	Short leap, any direction, chains
Captures mandatory?	No	Yes
Average game length	15-25 min	10-15 min
Origin	Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India	Recorded in Alfonso X's book, 1283

The triangles are the real difference

Alquerque is a clean 5x5 lattice: twenty-five points, twelve pieces a side, one empty point in the middle. Sixteen Soldiers takes that same lattice and adds a triangular extension pointing away from each player, bringing the board to thirty-seven points and the armies to sixteen. Those triangles are not decoration. They are narrow, which means pieces in them have fewer escape routes, and a soldier driven back into its own triangle is often much easier to trap than one in the open lattice.

Mandatory captures, and why it matters

In Alquerque, if a capture is available you must take it. That single rule creates the sacrifice tactics familiar from draughts: offer a piece, force the reply, and collect two in return. Sixteen Soldiers leaves the choice to you, so those forcing sequences do not exist in the same way - you cannot bait an opponent into a capture they are obliged to make. The trade-off is that Sixteen Soldiers endgames can drag, because a player who is behind is never compelled to walk into anything.

Which came first?

Alquerque is the better documented of the two. Arabic sources mention qirkat by around the 10th century and its full rules survive in Alfonso X's Libro de los Juegos, completed in 1283, which makes it the direct ancestor of modern draughts. Sixteen Soldiers belongs to the same broad lattice-and-leap family and is played across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India - as sholo guti, meaning 'sixteen pieces', and as cows and leopards - but its documented history is thinner and no reliable invention date exists.

Pick Sixteen Soldiers if…

you want the bigger board and the longer game
you like having the choice of whether to capture
you are interested in South Asian traditional games
you want more pieces and a slower build-up

Pick Alquerque if…

you want the tighter, faster game
you enjoy forced-capture sacrifice tactics
you want the direct ancestor of draughts
you prefer 10-15 minute sessions

FAQ

Is Sixteen Soldiers the same as Alquerque?

They are close relatives rather than the same game. Both move one step along marked lines and capture by short leaps that can chain, but Sixteen Soldiers plays on a 37-point board with sixteen pieces a side and optional captures, while Alquerque uses a plain 25-point lattice with twelve pieces and mandatory captures.

What is sholo guti?

Sholo guti is the Bangladeshi name for Sixteen Soldiers and means 'sixteen pieces'. It is one of the most widely played board games in Bangladesh, traditionally on a board scratched into the ground with pebbles or seeds as soldiers. In India the same game is often called cows and leopards.

Why does Sixteen Soldiers start with an empty middle row?

The sixteen pieces fill the two lattice rows nearest each player plus that player's triangle - five plus five plus six. That leaves the lattice's middle row of five points empty, which is what stops either side having a capture available on the very first move.

Can you capture backwards in both games?

Yes. Unlike draughts, where ordinary men only capture forwards, both Alquerque and Sixteen Soldiers allow leaps in any direction along a marked line from the very start, including sideways and backwards.

Which is closer to modern checkers?

Alquerque, clearly. It is the recognised ancestor of draughts: when the game reached medieval France it was transplanted onto a chessboard and the forward-only movement restriction was added, producing the game we now call checkers.

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