It basically boils down to being a fairy chess variant and is also influenced by Shogi. The basic rules are identical to chess unless noted. There is no castling nor en passant capture nor an initial double steps for 'pawns'. The goal is to checkmate the opponents royal squirrel.
Movesets
- 'Men' start on the position of pawns and move like kings, i.e. one square in any direction.
- 'Grasshoppers' can only move like a rook if there is some piece between them and the square that they move to. They can only capture on the field they move to. They start on the start position of rooks.
- 'Cows' can leap over pieces and can move hippogonal up to 5 squares, except for a standard chess knight move. They start on the start position of knights.
- 'Falcons' can move diagonally forward like a bishop or sideways or backward like a rook. They can neither move to any square at a distance of 1 nor leap across any intervening pieces. They start on the start position of bishops.
- 'Dinosaurs' can move like a queen but only if it captures. Otherwise it cannot move. They start on the position of the queen.
- 'Royal squirrels' can move to any squares at a distance of two but cannot leap across intervening pieces. It takes the role of the king in that it can be checkmated. It also starts on the position of the king.
I should probably provide pictures of the movestes.
Promotion
All pieces promote if they reach the final rank.
- Men only get an initial double backwards move if they promote.
- Grasshoppers gain the abilits to capture a hurdle in addition to the piece on the square that they move to.
- Cows gain the ability to make several leaper identical but obtuse moves in a snake-like pattern. They can only capture on the final move in a turn. A promoted cow is therefore called a snake.
- Falcons gain the ability to move twice a turn. They can only capture on their initial move in a turn. A promoted falcon is called a lion.
- Dinosaurs gain the ability to move without capturing if there is a piece between them and the square that they move to.
- Squirrels gain the ability to copy the last move used by any enemy piece in the last turn.
Design
The board is basically a 8x8 version of a Go board. Gamepieces are checkers pieces in two colors with symbols drawn on top. They are placed at the intersections on the board.
Variations
Regional variants exist that are played on different board shapes (a cross-shaped board is common), with different pieces/movesets and/or with different promotions. Rarely, the number of pieces is changed, such that one player has more but weaker pieces whereas the other has less but stronger pieces.