Jungle, a traditional Chinese board game

This rendition of the rules is by David Bush.

Jungle is a two player, abstract conflict game played on a 7x9 board.

Initial Arrangement

            7   6   5   4   3   2   1
          _____________________________
         /|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |           D: DEN SQUARE
        / | 7 |   | T | D | T |   | 6 | a         T: TRAP SQUARE
       /  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |           W: WATER SQUARE
      /   -----------------------------         1-8: PLAYING PIECES
     /    |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |              INITIAL LOCATION
 RED      |   | 4 |   | T |   | 2 |   | b
     \    |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
      \   -----------------------------
       \  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
        \ | 1 |   | 5 |   | 3 |   | 8 | c
         \|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          -----------------------------
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          |   | W | W |   | W | W |   | d
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          -----------------------------
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          |   | W | W |   | W | W |   | e
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          -----------------------------
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          |   | W | W |   | W | W |   | f
          |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          -----------------------------
         /|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
        / | 8 |   | 3 |   | 5 |   | 1 | g
       /  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
      /   -----------------------------
     /    |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
BLUE      |   | 2 |   | T |   | 4 |   | h
     \    |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
      \   -----------------------------
       \  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
        \ | 6 |   | T | D | T |   | 7 | i
         \|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
          -----------------------------

Turn Sequence

Blue moves first. Players alternate moves. A move consists of moving one piece of your own color. Each piece moves one square at a time horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally.

Pieces capture by replacement. You may not capture your own pieces. You may not capture a higher number piece than your capturing piece, with 2 exceptions:

  1. The Rat (1) captures (and may not be catured by) the Elephant (8).
  2. The 3 squares adjacent to your den (3a, 4b, 5a for red; 3i, 4h, 5i for blue) are your trap squares. You may capture any enemy piece in one of your traps regardless of rank. The Elephant (8) may capture the Rat (1) in this instance.

Rank

Each piece has a rank number and a corresponding animal name.

  1. Rat
  2. Cat
  3. Wolf
  4. Dog
  5. Cougar
  6. Tiger
  7. Lion
  8. Elephant

Object

The object of the game is to occupy your opponent's den square. Red's den is 4a; blue's den is 4i. You may not occupy your own den. Once a den is entered, the game is over.

Movement and Capture

No piece may move into or through the water squares (2d, 2e, 2f, 3d, 3e, 3f, 5d, 5e, 5f, 6d, 6e, 6f), with these exceptions:

  1. The Rat may move through water the same as on land; however, it may not capture the Elephant from the water.
  2. The Tiger (6) and the Lion (7) may leap across water if:

    To jump, move the Lion or Tiger across the water horizontally or vertically to the next dry land square. Any enemy piece of equal or lesser rank on this square is captured.

Repeating Positions

This is an additional variation by David Bush.

You may not make a move which produces a position that has already occurred twice before in the game on your turn, if the piece you are moving is capable of capturing the piece your opponent just moved (outside of your own traps). Position in this case is the arrangement of all the pieces on the board.

Repeating Positions Example 1

Red has an Elephant on 6h and Blue has a Dog on 5i.

Red may not chase the Dog back and forth indefinitely between 5i and 6i.

Repeating Positions Example 2

Blue has a Tiger on 5g and Red has a Rat on the water square, 5e.

If each time the Tiger moves to 5g or 6g the Rat blocks the jump by moving to 5e or 6e, the Tiger must cease shuttling back and forth before the same position occurs for a third time.

Credits

Jungle is Chinese in origin. Small sets made up of wooden playing pieces and colorful boards can often be found in the Chinatowns of major cities throughout the world.

A more extensive write up of Jungle can be found in R.C. Bell's coffee table book, The Board Game Book.

Rules write up by David Bush of Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

[email protected]
July 19, 1993

Edited by Ken Tidwell, April 4, 1994.

The Game Cabinet - [email protected] - Ken Tidwell