Hare and Tortoise

Hare & Tortoise is one of the few "German-style" games that can justifiably be called a classic. It has been printed in many versions and almost as many languages. There are even at least two known "pirated" versions of the game. The game itself is fairly straightforward but allows for a surprising amount of subtlety and clever play. Anyone deceived by the cute theme-ing or box artwork is likely in for a surprise as an experienced player leaves him/her in the dust.

Although the game remains very similar throughout the various editions, there are certain differences that exist and it's the intention of this article to catalogue these.

There are two main differences between the various versions:

• The position of the first lettuce space. This is either at space 7 (which requires 28 carrots to move to on the first turn) or at space 10 (which requires 55 carrots). It's generally considered that the "space 10 lettuce" layout is superior as it's a no-brainer that on a "space 7 lettuce" board the first player should always move to that lettuce.

• Methods of "jugging the hare". The biggest difference is whether or not cards are employed (giving an equal chance of each event) or dice modified by position in the race (generally giving better results to those further behind). The dice version also has two more or less distinct methods—using a table to cross index the roll with position or adding race position to the roll and consulting a single chart. In practice both methods yield similar results with one notable exception—the position added to the dice roll chart often is set up so that only players in fifth or sixth place are capable of getting a "chew a lettuce" result.

Purely a thematic change is that in the English language versions of the game it's Hare and TORTOISE whereas in other languages it's Hare and HEDGEHOG. This is, of course, due to the appropriate tale for that language, being based upon either the Aesop fable or the Brothers Grimm story. I should also note that there is a significant difference between these two tales. In the English version the Hare is lazy and, assuming that he'll win, decides to take a nap. Of course, the "slow and steady" Tortoise overtakes the Hare who wakes up too late and loses the race. In the Brothers Grimm story the Hedgehog is rather devious and has his wife impersonate him in order to win the race. So far, I haven't managed to incorporate this strategy into an actual game.

Personally, I prefer boards that do not have a lettuce on the penultimate space. If nothing else its absence makes explaining the game a little easier. How so? Well, that lettuce space is as good as dead anyway. If you land there with more than three carrots you can't finish the race and meet the minimum carrot requirement because as soon as you eat, you'll be gaining a minimum of 10 carrots. So, I invariably have to explain to first time players "Don't try to eat a lettuce on this space, it won't work!" Quite often a first timer who's been trying a tortoise strategy (saving lots of carrots) will realize that having too many is so much worse than having too few. For some reason it hurts that much more when the too much is a result of the carrots gained by eating a lettuce.

I intend to update this page as I receive information about new or undocumented versions. If you have any information regarding a copy not listed above I'd be grateful if you'd drop me a line.

-Greg Aleknevicus

Thanks to all who contributed information for this article. Notably Magnus Lundgren, Chris Dickson, Steve Kurzban & Ronald Hoekstra. Also much information was supplied by David Parlett's own Hare & Tortoise webpage -http//www.davidparlett.co.uk/haretort/index.html