How to play
- Each side has eight animals, ranked from the elephant (8) down through the lion, tiger, leopard, wolf, dog and cat to the rat (1). The number on each piece is its rank.
- On your turn, move one animal one square forward, back or sideways. You can’t move into your own den.
- An animal can take one of the same rank or lower by moving onto it. The rat is the exception: it can take the elephant, and the elephant can’t take the rat.
- Only the rat can swim. A rat in the water can’t take anything on land, and nothing on land can take it.
- The lion and tiger can leap straight across a river, up and down or side to side, as long as no rat is swimming in the way.
- The three squares around each den are traps. An animal standing in the other side’s trap can be taken by any animal.
- Win by walking any animal into the other side’s den, by taking all their animals, or by leaving them no move. A hundred moves without a capture is a draw.
Tips
Your rat is precious: it’s the only thing that stops the elephant and it can block the lion and tiger from leaping. Keep one strong animal near home to guard the traps, and use the lion and tiger’s leaps to get round the rivers quickly.
About the game
Animal Chess, called Dou Shou Qi (“fighting animals”) in Chinese and often Jungle in English, is a traditional Chinese game for two, still played by children and adults across China.