How to play
- Participants
- We suggest 7–12 participants: a wolf, a bear, a gander and geese.
- Space
- Clear space for a gate, a line and two groups behind the gatekeepers.
- Equipment
- No equipment
- Starting formation
- The wolf and bear face each other, holding hands. The gander leads the geese in single file.
- The gander and gatekeepers discuss crossing water: straw would break and a board would wash away, so a stronger bridge is needed. Retell the exchange in your own words.
- The wolf and bear raise their joined hands. The gander leads the geese through the gate.
- The gatekeepers try to stop the last goose. In this adaptation, they ask that player to stop rather than enclosing them with lowered arms.
- The stopped goose chooses the wolf or the bear and stands behind the chosen player.
- The line passes again until all geese have chosen. Look at the two groups, then agree on new roles.
Ending: This adaptation ends with two groups formed. It has no pulling contest or winning team.
Documented version: Kudirka’s no. 5 continues with a pulling contest after the groups form. That phase is deliberately omitted: this page presents a labelled teaching episode.
Names and variants
Žąsų tiltas
Demonstrate the gate
First walk through without stopping anyone so the line learns the direction. The stopped player personally chooses which group to join.
The complete source game
The 1993 description ends with two chains pulling until a chain breaks. Stopping after the groups form changes that ending, so this page does not claim to provide unchanged traditional rules.