This is a period game that was invented for Francesco de Medici who gave it to Phillip II of Spain. It is a dice-driven racing game with the addition of gambling.
Any number of players can participate but it is better if there are five or less players.
Players advance around the Goose board by rolling two six-sided dice and moving their marker that number of spaces. The first player to arrive at the center (square 63) by exact count wins.
If the final dice roll is too high (meaning that the player would overshoot square 63), the player must move his piece forward to the last square (63) and then backwards until the full count is reached.
Only one player may occupy any space on the board. If you end your turn on a square occupied by an opponent, that player goes back to the square you started your turn from.
| Goose (5, 9, 14, 18, 23, 27, 32, 36, 41, 45, 50, 54, 59) | You again move the number of spaces on your dice roll in the direction you are currently moving |
| The Bridge (6) | The player immediately advances to square 12 |
| The Maze (42) | The player is sent back to square 30 |
| The Tavern (19) | The player loses two turns (it's always hard to leave a tavern) |
| The Well (31) | The player must remain on this square until another player lands on that square (trapped in the well). The second player remains there while the first player moves to the square that the second player started from |
| The Prison (52) | Same as The Well |
| Death (58) | The player starts over at the beginning |
On a player's initial roll of the dice, if the total is 9, then:
If it is six and three, the player advances to square 26If it is four and five, the player advances to square 53
Each player antes a token into the pot. When a player lands on a special square that isn't The Goose (like The Tavern or The Bridge, for example), the player adds another token to the pot. No tokens are added for landing on The Goose or for one of the non-special squares. If a player lands on another player and sends them back, the second player (the one sent back) adds a token to the pot. The winner of the game gets the pot.
If a player runs out of tokens then he is out of the game and his marker is removed.
The board looks like:
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | THE | | |
|START | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | GOOSE|BRIDGE| 7 | 8 |
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| |
| GOOSE|
| |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | THE | | |
| GOOSE| 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | GOOSE| MAZE | | 10 |
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | |
| 35 | | 43 | | 11 |
| | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | | | |
| 34 | | DEATH| GOOSE| 60 | | 44 | | 12 |
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | | | |
| 33 | | 57 | | 61 | | GOOSE| | 13 |
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | | | |
| GOOSE| | 56 | | 62 | | 46 | | GOOSE|
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| THE | | | | | | | | |
| WELL | | 55 | | 63 | | 47 | | 15 |
| | | | |FINISH| | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | |
| 30 | | GOOSE| | 48 | | 16 |
| | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | | THE | | | | | |
| 29 | | 53 |PRISON| 51 | GOOSE| 49 | | 17 |
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
| | | |
| 28 | | GOOSE|
| | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- ------ ------ ------
| | | | | | | | | THE |
| GOOSE| 26 | 25 | 24 | GOOSE| 22 | 21 | 20 |TAVERN|
| | | | | | | | | |
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------