Board and setup

The board is seven files wide and nine ranks deep. Your den sits at the center of your back rank, ringed by three trap squares. Two rivers, each a 2×3 block of water, split the middle of the board. Red moves first from the fixed starting position below.

How the animals move

Every animal moves one square up, down, left, or right. Animals never move diagonally. Most animals stay on land, so they cannot enter a river. The rat, lion, and tiger are the three movement exceptions.

One square, four directions.
The river is not a move for a land animal.

Rat

The rat is the only animal that can enter water. A rat in a river can move and capture another rat there, but no piece can capture across the shoreline: a land rat cannot capture into water, and a water rat cannot capture onto land.

The rat can step off the bank into the river.
In the water it is safe: the wolf is not a target, and it cannot reach the rat either.

Lion

The lion can move one land square normally, or leap straight across a river horizontally or vertically. It lands on the first square beyond the water and may capture an animal there if rank allows.

The lion clears either river sideways.
The same jump lengthwise, landing on the wolf and taking it.

Tiger

The tiger moves exactly like the lion: one land square, or a leap straight across a river lengthwise or sideways, landing on the first square past the water. A rat of either color on any water square in the path blocks either animal’s jump.

The tiger clears the river the long way.
The tiger on the lion’s square: the same leaps sideways.
A rat in the river blocks the leap.

Ranks and captures

Each side has the same eight animals. Strongest to weakest: elephant, lion, tiger, leopard, wolf, dog, cat, rat. A piece captures an adjacent enemy of equal or lower rank.

ElephantLionTigerLeopardWolfDogCatRat
Strongest at the left, weakest at the right.

The rank exception connects the ends of the ladder: a rat on land can capture an elephant, while an elephant cannot capture a rat.

On land, the lowest-ranked rat can capture the highest-ranked elephant.
The elephant cannot take the rat back.

Traps

Step a piece onto one of your opponent’s three trap squares and it loses all rank while it stands there, so any defending piece can take it, down to a rat capturing a trapped elephant. Only an enemy’s traps do this: a piece can sit on one of its own traps and keeps its full rank.

On red’s trap the lion is rank 0, so a cat takes it.
Red’s own trap costs red nothing: the cat still cannot touch the elephant.

Winning and draws

You win immediately by moving any piece into the enemy den, capturing every enemy piece, or leaving your opponent with no legal move. You cannot move into your own den.

One step into the den ends the game. Rank does not matter, and neither does the trap square.

Games draw on threefold repetition, or when 100 half-moves (50 by each player) pass with no capture.

A sample game

An engine game from a 200-game match between KataGo-AnimalChess (Red) and Mistboard’s own engine (Blue), and it uses nearly every rule on this page. Blue’s tiger jumps the left river sideways on move 11, and its lion jumps the right one on move 13. On move 38 Red’s lion jumps the river lengthwise, and on move 40 Red’s rat, standing on land, takes Blue’s elephant. Three moves later a wolf takes a tiger standing in Red’s own trap, where it has no rank left, and on move 47 Red walks into Blue’s den.

All 200 games are in the companion study, with the sideways tiger jumps and the shortest and longest wins picked out first.

Common questions

What is the rank order in Jungle Chess?
Elephant > lion > tiger > leopard > wolf > dog > cat > rat. An animal captures an adjacent enemy of equal or lower rank. The one exception: a rat on land can capture the elephant, and the elephant can never capture a rat.
Can the elephant capture the rat?
No, never. The rat is the only piece that can capture the elephant, and only from a land square. A rat in the river cannot capture onto land.
Which animals can jump the river?
The lion and the tiger both jump a river sideways or lengthwise, land on the first square past the water, and may capture there. A rat of either color on any water square in the path blocks the jump. Some English rule sets let only the lion jump sideways; Mistboard follows the Chinese rule sets, where both animals do. Until 21 September 2026 the tiger on Mistboard jumped lengthwise only, so games and puzzles from before then were played under that rule.
How do the traps work?
An animal standing on one of the three trap squares around the enemy den loses all rank, so any defender can capture it, even a rat taking an elephant. Your own traps do nothing to your own animals.
How do you win Jungle Chess?
Move any animal into the enemy den, capture all eight enemy animals, or leave your opponent with no legal move. You cannot enter your own den. The game draws on threefold repetition or 100 half-moves without a capture.
Is there a winning strategy for Jungle Chess?
No forced win is known. Dou Shou Qi is unsolved: the largest published endgame tablebase covers positions with up to four pieces, against sixteen at the start. In practice the strong ideas are to keep the rat alive as your answer to the elephant, keep the lion and tiger near the rivers where their jumps threaten, and never leave the squares around your den unguarded.
What other names does Jungle Chess have?
Dou Shou Qi, Animal Chess, Jungle, and Animal Checkers in English. Dou shou qi is the Chinese name, literally fighting-animal chess, and it is the same name in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the mainland.

Play on Mistboard

A rat on land can take the elephant, and the elephant can never take a rat. No account needed.

Play vs computerChallenge a friendThe 200 engine games