Game Rules
Objective
Be the first player to move any of your animals into the opponent's Den square.
- Orange's Den: d1
- Yellow's Den: d9
Gameplay
- Orange starts the game.
- Players take turns moving one animal per turn.
- Animals move one square horizontally or vertically (never diagonally).
- You cannot move onto a square occupied by your own animal.
Attacking
- You can move onto a square occupied by an opponent's animal if your animal's rank is equal to or higher than the opponent's rank.
- This is an attack, and the opponent's captured animal is removed from the board.
- Exception: See Special Powers for Rat vs. Elephant.
End of Turn Sequence
After making your move, the following checks happen automatically:
- Declare Hungry: Any of the opponent's animals that can now make a valid attack are marked as hungry (red glow).
- Check Starvation: If any of your own animals were marked as hungry at the start of your turn, but you did not make an attacking move with any of them, those hungry animals starve and are removed from the board.
Special Squares
- Den: Your own Den (Orange: d1, Yellow: d9) cannot be entered by your pieces. Reaching the opponent's Den wins the game. A hungry animal cannot enter the opponent's Den.
- Water (b4-c6, e4-f6): Only specific animals can enter or move on water (see Special Powers).
- Traps:
- Orange Traps: c1, d2, e1
- Yellow Traps: c9, d8, e9
Any animal landing on a Trap square has its rank effectively reduced to 0 for the purpose of being attacked while on that square. A "(0)" marker appears above trapped animals. However, an animal attacking from a trap square uses its normal rank.
Other Rules
- You must make a move each turn (passing is not allowed).
Special Powers
- Rat [1]:
- Can enter, move on, and attack from Water squares.
- Can attack the Elephant [8], but only when attacking from a land square (cannot attack Elephant when starting from Water).
- Dog [3]:
- Can enter, move on, and attack from Water squares.
- Lion [7] and Tiger [6]:
- Can jump horizontally or vertically over Water squares.
- A jump moves from a land square directly across 2 or 3 water squares to another land square.
- Jumps can be used to move or attack.
- A jump is blocked if an opponent's swimming animal (Rat or Dog) occupies any water square along the jump path.
- Leopard [5]:
- Can jump horizontally over Water squares (across 2 water squares).
- Cannot jump vertically.
- Jumps follow the same blocking rules as Lion/Tiger.
- Elephant [8]: Can attack the Rat [1].
Repetition Limit
To prevent endless loops and ensure a winner, a repetition rule exists:
- Determine which player currently has more animals on the board. If tied, the starting player (Orange) is considered the "leading player".
- The leading player is not allowed to make a move that results in a board position that has already occurred 3 times previously during the game.
(Board positions are tracked automatically.)
