Goro-Goro Dōbutsu Shōgi Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Boards
• Setup
• Playing Etiquette
• Furigoma (Pawn Toss Using Chick Pieces)
• How the Animals Move
• Get a New Teammate
• Get Power
• Playing Rules
  • Rules for Chicks, Part 1
  • Repetition (Thousand-Day Moves)
  • Check
  • Rules for Chicks, Part 2
• Checkmate
  • Many Ways to Checkmate
• Game Variations
  • Puzzle Games Using Dogs and Cats
  • Rabbits and Wild Boars

Game Boards

There are three game boards in the series:

• Dobutsu Shogi: 3x4 board, 8 animals.
• Goro-Goro Dobutsu Shogi: 5x6 board, 16 animals.
• Dobutsu Shogi in the Greenwoods: 9x9 board, 40 animals.

Setup

Set up the pieces as illustrated. The board has five columns (A to E) and six rows (1 to 6). The row numbers and column letters are printed on the board. Rows 1 and 2 form the Sky Area and rows 5 and 6 form the Land Area. The two sides face each other across the board.

• Player on the Sky side (upper player): row 1 holds a cat in A1, a dog in B1, a lion in C1, a dog in D1 and a cat in E1. Chicks are placed on B3, C3 and D3 (drawn upside down in the diagram, facing the opposite side).
• Player on the Land side (lower player): row 6 holds a cat in A6, a dog in B6, a lion in C6, a dog in D6 and a cat in E6. Chicks are placed on B4, C4 and D4.

Rows 2 and 5 are empty at the start of the game.

Decide who plays first by "Furigoma (pawn toss using chick pieces)." Take turns and move one animal at a time.

You win if you capture your opponent's lion first.

Playing Etiquette

Say "Onegai-shimasu" (Let's play) when you start. Say "Arigato gozaimashita" (Thank you) when you finish.

Furigoma (Pawn Toss Using Chick Pieces)

1. One player takes 3 chicks, shakes them well and tosses them on the table.
2. If there are more chicks than hens (chick side up), the player who tossed the pieces plays first.
3. If there are more hens than chicks (hen side up), the player who tossed the pieces plays second.

Usually the older or stronger player makes the pawn toss.

How the Animals Move

The animals can move one square in the direction indicated by the dots.

• Lion: one square in any of the eight directions.
• Chick: one square straight forward.
• Hen (a chick that has received power): one square forward, forward-diagonally left, forward-diagonally right, left, right, or backward.
• Dog: one square forward, forward-diagonally left, forward-diagonally right, left, right, or backward.
• Cat: one square forward, forward-diagonally left, forward-diagonally right, backward-diagonally left, or backward-diagonally right.
• Empowered Cat (a cat that has received power): moves in the same way as a dog.

Hens and empowered cats can move in the same way as dogs.

Get a New Teammate

1. When an opponent's animal is in the square where your animal moves to, you capture it and it becomes your new teammate.
2. The new teammate must wait along the playing board until the time comes for it to play. Let's call this a "waiting animal," for example a "waiting chick."
3. On your turn you can choose to put a "waiting animal" back into an empty square following specific rules*, or to move an animal on the board.

Get Power

Chicks and cats can be flipped over to get power when one moves into, within or out from the opponent's area.

• You decide whether to empower an animal or not when you move it.
• Once an animal gets power, you can't flip it back to its original side.
• However, when it is captured, it must be flipped back to its original side.

Playing Rules

Let's master the rules.

Rules for Chicks, Part 1

1. Only one chick per player is allowed in a column.
2. However, hens are allowed to be in the same column as a chick.
3. *You can't place your chick onto your opponent's end line, because it can't move. Therefore, you must empower the chick when it reaches the end line. Also, you can't place your "waiting chick" onto your opponent's end line.

Repetition (Thousand-Day Moves)

The game is a draw if the same situation occurs 4 times.

Repetition of the same moves is called "thousand-day moves" as the game does not end even after a thousand days.

Check

A move intending to capture the lion in your next turn is called a "check." Go for a check whenever you can. You win the game when you capture the lion!

The checked team's animals must try not to let the lion be captured. The team must either make the lion escape or capture the checking animal.

Rules for Chicks, Part 2

• It is not allowed to checkmate by placing a "waiting chick" back onto the board.
• It is allowed to checkmate when a chick moves on the board.

Checkmate

Cooperate with your teammates to capture the lion!

1. Let's cooperate with your teammates and check the lion.
2. Even if your dog is captured,
3. the chick can capture the lion, having guarded the dog from behind!

In picture 1 above, the lion can't escape to any square safely. We call it a "checkmate." The lion is captured no matter what he and his teammates do.

Many Ways to Checkmate

• A lion in a corner is easier to be captured.
• Dogs are good at making checkmates. Place a dog in front of the lion.
• Check from a square where opponent's teammates are not nearby.

Let's catch the lion! Have fun!

Game Variations

Puzzle Games Using Dogs and Cats

For 1 player. This is a 3x3 puzzle game for one player. Move the animals from their starting positions to the goal positions. Only columns A to C and rows 1 to 3 are used; the squares in the other columns can't be used.

1st Step: 3 Empty Squares

Starting position (rows 1 to 3, columns A to C; "empty" means no animal):

Row	A	B	C
1	cat	empty	cat
2	empty	dog	empty
3	chick	chick	chick

Goal position:

Row	A	B	C
1	chick	chick	chick
2	cat	empty	cat
3	empty	dog	empty

2nd Step: 2 Empty Squares

Starting position:

Row	A	B	C
1	cat	dog	cat
2	empty	dog	empty
3	chick	chick	chick

3rd Step: 1 Empty Square

Two starting positions are shown for this step.

Starting position A:

Row	A	B	C
1	cat	cat	cat
2	dog	empty	dog
3	chick	chick	chick

Starting position B:

Row	A	B	C
1	dog	dog	dog
2	cat	empty	cat
3	chick	chick	chick

The page prints a goal position only for the 1st step. The goal positions for the 2nd and 3rd steps are not shown on this page.

Rabbits and Wild Boars

An advanced version of Goro-Goro Dobutsu Shogi for 2 players.

Let's try Goro-Goro Dobutsu Shogi with rabbits and wild boars from "Dobutsu Shogi in the Greenwoods." To start the game, place a rabbit and a wild boar along the playing board as "waiting animals."

• Rabbit: A rabbit moves as shown in the picture. It can jump over other animals.
• Wild Boar: A wild boar can move forward any number of empty squares following specific rules**. It can't move backwards.

**Rabbits and wild boars pieces and a rules booklet are included in "Dobutsu Shogi in the Greenwoods." The specific rules for the wild boar are therefore not printed in this booklet.