Animal Chess (鬥獸棋 dòu shòu qí) also known as Jungle is a lesser known board game from China. It is said to be influenced by chinese chess.
Overview#
The game is played on a 9x7 tile board, featuring two rivers at the center and a den on either side of the board, surrounded by traps. Each player has a set of eight animals, classified by their size and rank, as illustrated in the figure below. The animals move strictly in horizontal and vertical directions, and can only capture opponent animals with the same or lower rank, except for the rat, which can defeat the elephant, while the latter is unable to capture the former.
Players take turns moving their animals across the board, trying to outmaneuver their opponent and gain an advantage. To emerge victorious in the game, there are two options: one can either maneuver one’s animals into the adversary’s den or eliminate all of the opponent’s animals from the board.
The moves#
While some variations of the game may introduce special rules for certain animals, the core gameplay mechanics remain consistent across all versions. The standard rules are as follows.
When playing this game, there are some important rules to keep in mind. Firstly, any animal that is trapped (i.e. which is on a trap field) can be captured by any opposing animal, regardless of its rank. Additionally, it is not permitted for an animal to move into its own den.
Two animals, the lion and tiger, have special abilities that allow them to jump across a river vertically, capturing any animal on the other side based on the previously mentioned capture rule. It is worth noting, however, that if a rat of any player is in the water and in the line of the jump, then the lion or tiger cannot jump. Furthermore, the lion is also capable of jumping horizontally across the river, while the same rat rule applies here as well.
The rat is a unique animal in that it is the only one that can cross the river, and no other animal can do so. Finally, a rat on a land tile is unable to capture a rat on a water tile, and vice versa.
The game#
Displayed below is a functional version of the game that incorporates the rules outlined above. The game features both a single-player mode against a basic AI opponent, as well as a local player-versus-player mode.
Special thanks to fabi_dhaus for designing all in-game graphics.