Goose Game — Play Free Online

Goose Game is the browser version of the very old race-to-the-end board game that has been played in Europe for centuries. There are no reflexes involved and no aiming. You throw dice, move your pawn along a numbered track of 63 squares, and try to be first to land on the final one. It is a different kind of break from the jumpers and runners that fill the rest of Doodle Jump.

A game takes a few minutes and is mostly luck, with just enough rules to keep every turn interesting. Some squares push you forward, some hold you in place, and a couple send you back to the start. You can play against the computer or share one screen with friends, which makes it a good fit when you want something relaxed instead of a high-score chase.

How to play

Pick the number of players and whether you face the computer or other people, then choose a pawn colour. On your turn you roll the dice using the mouse or a tap on a touch screen, and your pawn moves that many squares. The first pawn to reach square 63 wins. The game keeps a count of games played and games won.

The special squares are what make the game. According to the in-game help:

• Goose and Bridge squares: you repeat the same score again, so you move a second time.
• House: you wait here for three turns.
• Well and Prison: you stay put until another player lands there and frees you.
• Maze: you are sent back to square 39.
• Skull: you go all the way back to square 1.

Things worth knowing

You cannot control the dice, so the real skill is knowing the board. The game's help screen notes that because of where the goose squares sit, rolling a 9 on your very first turn wins you the game immediately.

It also warns about a two-player trap. If one player is in the Well and the other is in the Prison, nobody can rescue anyone and the game is over. Rescue rules matter less with more players, because someone is usually around to free you.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

Most of the site is about speed and timing. Fireboy and Watergirl is also a two-player game, but it is a puzzle platformer where you cooperate. Bouncy Basketball is another easygoing two-player option, played with physics and quick reactions. Goose Game is the one where you can sit back and let the dice decide.

It runs in the browser with nothing to install, on desktop or phone, and suits a quick game with a friend or a few minutes alone against the computer.