Board Overview

  • The board is divided into two sections by a river, with each section belonging to one player. Each section contains a den, which is surrounded by traps.
  • If an animal piece moves into the opponent's den, the player wins.
  • If an animal enters the opponent's trap, it temporarily loses all its strength and can be eliminated by any opposing piece.
  • Moving onto your own trap does not affect your animal's strength.

 

Animal pieces

  • Each player has 8 different animal pieces, each with a unique strength ranking.
  • Strength Order (Strongest to Weakest): Elephant > Lion > Tiger > Leopard > Wolf > Dog > Cat > Rat
  • Animals can eliminate opposing animals of equal or lesser strength by moving onto their square.
  • Exceptions:
    • The Rat can eliminate an Elephant, but an Elephant cannot eliminate a Rat.
    • The Rat can only eliminate an Elephant on land, not in water.
  • If all opponent's animals are eliminated, the player wins.

 

Movement

  • Each piece moves one square horizontally or vertically (no diagonal movement).
  • Only the Rat can move onto water squares.
  • The Lion and Tiger can jump across water squares (horizontally or vertically):
    • If an opponent's piece with equal or lesser strength is on the landing square, it will be eliminated.
    • However, if a Rat is on any of the water squares in between, the Lion and Tiger cannot jump across.

 

Prohibited Movements

  • Moving into your own den.
  • Repeating movement patterns:
    • Within 7 turns, if the same animal has moved to the same square 3 times, it cannot move to that square on the next turn.*
    • Within 17 turns, if the same animal has moved within the same 5 squares repeatedly, it cannot move to any of those squares on the next turn.*

*If the animal moves into a trap or another piece is moved, the movement tracking is reset.

 

Winning the Match

A player wins if:

  • An animal moves into the opponent's den.
  • All opponent's pieces are eliminated.
  • The remaining opponent's pieces are not movable.
  • The opponent fails to move for 3 consecutive turns.
  • The opponent's time runs out.