GAME RULES

Players alternate turns moving one of their animals until

any of these two things happen:
A strategy board game for 2 players designed by
Madoka Kitao
and illustrated by
Silvia Romeral Andrs

INTRODUCTION

- Let's Catch the Lion! (a.k.a. Dbutsu

Shgi, which means "animal shogi") is a simple version of
Shogi. Both players have only four pieces chick, giraffe,
elephant and lion and they're trying to either catch the
opponent's lion or move their own lion to the other side.

One of the players captures the opponents lion (say

Catch!). The owner of the captured lion loses the
game.

One of the lions reaches the opponents home (say

Reach!). The owner of the lion wins the game.

There can only be one animal per space. Passing is not

allowed.
After the game ends, say Arigatou-gozaimashita, which
means Thank you very much.

MATERIAL
This is what you need in order to play Let's Catch the
Lion!:
-

A 3x4 board (cells indicated in darker blue)

8 tiles (animals): 2 tiles each of Elephant, Lion, Giraffe
and Chick/Cock (double sided).
A cotton case.

GAME PREPARATION
Determine the starting player. Setup the board like this:

The opponents home (indicated in red)

HOW PIECES MOVE
The movement options for each animal are indicated with
small dots engraved on the tiles. Here is how they move:

Notice that the chick/cock tiles are placed with the chick
image facing up.
The animals pointing upwards are your team (first two
rows). The animals pointing downwards are you opponents
team (farthest two rows).

The lion can move 1 space in any direction

The row nearest to you is your home. The row nearest to

your opponent is his home.
Kindly salute your opponent in Japanese: Onegaishimasu before starting the game.

Game design Madoka Kitao Art by Silvia Romeral Andrs Rulebook Nstor Romeral Andrs

The chick can only move 1 space upwards

The elephant can only move 1 space diagonally

THE CHICK
When your Chick reaches the opponents home as a
result of a movement it is flipped over so it shows the Cock
(put the chick outside the board).
Remember that your tiles always point upwards.
CAPTURING
When one of your animals reaches a space occupied by an
opponents animal you capture it and it becomes a member
of your team. Place it outside the board next to you and
pointing towards your opponent. You can re-enter it into the
board later (see below).

The giraffe can only move 1 space up, down, left or right.

Exception: When a cock is captured it becomes a chick

again (place it next to you and outside the board as usual).
ENTERING ANIMALS INTO THE BOARD
On your turn, instead of moving one of your animals, you
can enter the board any of your team members that are
waiting outside the board. Place it on any empty space.
Exception: The cock cannot be entered into the board, as it
is replaced by the chick when captured.
Exception: If you enter a chick into the board by placing it
on the opponents home it does not grow up (it is not
converted into a cock).
DRAWS
If a game position is repeated 3 times the game ends in a
draw.

The cock can move 1 space in any direction except

diagonally backwards

Game design Madoka Kitao Art by Silvia Romeral Andrs Rulebook Nstor Romeral Andrs