Beastboard: Jungle Chess

The rat beats the elephant. Eight ranked animals, one 9×7 board, a classic Chinese strategy game enjoyed by generations. Animal Chess — also known as Jungle Chess or Doushouqi (斗兽棋) — finally gets the offline-first, ad-free mobile version it deserves.

Higher ranks capture lower ranks. The twist that makes the game: the Rat (rank 1) is the only piece that can capture the Elephant (rank 8). Lions and Tigers leap rivers. Rats swim. Traps reduce a piece to nothing. Reach your opponent's Den to win.

— FEATURES —
• Vs AI with five difficulty levels, from Beginner to Expert
• Two-player on a single device — pass-and-play
• Chaos Mode — randomised starting layouts with shareable seeds for fair rematches
• Daily Challenge — one fresh puzzle every day, streak tracking
• Hint system, eval bar, threat highlighting (all toggleable)
• Full move history with notation — copy and share games
• Time controls: classical, bullet, blitz, rapid
• English and Simplified Chinese
• Fully offline. No accounts. No ads. No trackers.

— PRIVACY —
Beastboard makes zero outbound network requests. The release build does not even request the INTERNET permission on Android. Your saves, statistics, and preferences live only on your device. Uninstall removes everything permanently.

— ABOUT THE GAME —
Doushouqi (斗兽棋) is a traditional two-player abstract strategy game from China, played on a 9×7 board with two rivers, four traps, and two dens. Beloved by generations of players across Asia, it rewards positional thinking and tactical risk. This app is a faithful, modern adaptation — true to the rules, with no microtransactions, no nags, and no compromises.

— PIECES & RANKS —
Elephant (8), Lion (7), Tiger (6), Leopard (5), Wolf (4), Dog (3), Cat (2), Rat (1). The Rat is the only piece that can enter the river, and the only piece that can capture the Elephant. Lions and Tigers may leap horizontally across two river squares or vertically across three — provided no Rat blocks the path. A piece on an opponent-owned trap is reduced to rank 0; anything can capture it.

— IF YOU LIKE… —
If you enjoy chess, checkers, draughts, mancala, shogi, xiangqi, or Go, Beastboard will feel instantly at home. It's the same lineage of pure two-player abstract strategy — but with a board you can finish in ten minutes and a rule (rat beats elephant) that delights every new player.

— FOR EVERYONE —
Whether you're learning Doushouqi for the first time, teaching it to your kids, or sharpening your mid-game tactics against an AI you can actually beat, Beastboard is built to be welcoming and stay out of your way. Open the app, pick a mode, play. That's it.