The Animal Game

(Up to Scheme ideas)

Game setup
Scheme
The Animal Game: Download View scheme settings
Map
Specially designed map (example)
Worms
8 per player; 1vs1

The Animal Game is a wormy adaptation of an abandonware 1996 game of the same name (available here and here). That software was based on Dou Shou Qi, a real life board game that is similar to Stratego (known as Combate in Brazil) but it's significantly different.

How to play

The scheme uses the modern gameplay rules:

• Each player must use a team of 8 worms, each containing a specific different animal name (and preferably their corresponding strengh number too, to help reminding them during the game). The animals and their corresponding strength values ​​are as follows:

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

• When starting the game, the position of the animals (the worms, with their names) should be placed on the map in the following positions:

The initial positions. One's team positions are vertically opposite to the opponent's. The one who starts is always the player on the left.

• One's team positions are vertically opposite to the opponent's. The one who starts is always the player on the left.

• The objective of the game is to get one of your animals to the opponent's den. It is also possible to win the game by capturing all the pieces.

• The pieces are moved one square vertically or horizontally; never diagonally.

• No animal may occupy the square of its own den.

• Stronger animals (based on their number) capture weaker animals, and the opposite is not possible. Animals of the same value capture each other; the one that advances on the other first is the one that captures.

• To make a capture, a player must move one piece onto another, that is, in this case, teleport the worm that makes the capture to the same square where the animal to be captured is. After that, the opponent must teleport the captured animal off the board, such as on top of the "signboard" with the name of the game below or into the water. Preferably to the "signboard" if they are going to rematch later and still have all the worms in the same game. After the worm is removed from the board, the player who captured it must skip their turn so that the opponent can play, since at that point, it is their turn.

• The rat captures the elephant, but the elephant cannot capture the rat.

• The rat is the only piece that can enter the water (blue squares), but it can only capture from land to land or from water to water; You cannot leave the water and make a capture or enter the water and make a capture.

• The tiger and the lion are the only pieces that can jump over the river from the closest land square to the closest one on the other side, both vertically and horizontally, and they can also make a capture with this movement, but if there is a rat (yours or the opponent's) in the river on the same line as the jump, the movement cannot be made.

• A position cannot be repeated more than 3 times. In this case of a stalemate, the one who must change moves is always the one who is trying to advance with a piece, regardless of the side.

• Around the den, there are 3 traps. If an opponent's animal stands on one of them, a weaker animal on a square next to it can capture it. The traps have no effect on your own animals.

Variations on the rules

• The original old rule was played accepting that the elephant could capture the rat instead of just the rat being able to capture the elephant. The capture depends on which animal advances first.
• There is a variation in which the dog is stronger than the wolf.
• There is a variation in which the dog can also enter the water.
• There is a variation in which the leopard can jump over the river, but only 2 squares of water (vertically, in this case) because he is not as strong as the tiger and the lion.

Tactics

• Advancing the lion early to gain territory is a good idea.
• Use the rat to keep it in the water and stop the elephant from coming, or the tiger and the lion from jumping.
• Throw the rat into the other river to trap the opponent's rat there, preferably against your own side, so that it cannot leave, and that way you are free to advance with the elephant.
• Make sure that your den is protected in case of invasion. You should always leave at least 2 animals around the traps.

This is because if you are invaded by just one animal stronger than those two, it will not be enough to invade the den. You will need at least two.

Criticisms, problems and weaknesses

• The game is not dynamic like chess that goes on and on. It is a game that, if both players are good, tends to be locked, because it is the type of game where you win the moment the other makes a mistake, so there is a lot of swapping and swapping of the pieces until the game gets off track. And that's why I would say that there is no master tactic that wins everything. You need to keep changing tactics, trying to make your opponent mess up with the movement of his pieces so that you can make a winning move. So the game has a limited strategy, but not that much.

Variations on the scheme settings

The original scheme has infinite turn time and was designed for amateur gameplay. For competitive/professional play, the scheme has 45 seconds of turn time, and if a player spends 3 turns without moving any piece, this player loses the game. The original scheme has 120 minutes of round time to indicate that there is no time limit, but it can be restricted to a few minutes to allow draws.

History

	W:A replay: The replay that Magnus presented The Animal Game to FoxHound in 2021. He was explaining the rules in PT-BR and at the end they played a complete game.
	Download · Info

Magnus created the scheme and the map on 24th January 2018. He presented the idea to FoxHound on a game played on 7th February 2021. On 18th December 2024 FoxHound uploaded the original scheme + the map, and wrote an article based on the rules (in Brazilian Portuguese) and the files that the author sent to him. Magnus supervised the text and authorized the release of the scheme.

	This article has a to-do list:
	Add a good example of serious gameplay replay Add gif