What is Animal Shogi?
Animal shogi (dōbutsu shōgi), sold in English as Let's Catch the Lion!, is a tiny shogi made to teach children. It is played on a board three columns wide and four rows long. Each side has four animals: a lion, a giraffe, an elephant and a chick. The lion stands in the middle of the back row between the giraffe and the elephant, and the chick stands in front of it.
The lion moves one step in any direction, the giraffe one step straight forward, back or sideways, the elephant one step diagonally, and the chick one step straight forward. A chick that reaches the far row becomes a hen, which moves like a gold general: one step in any direction except diagonally backward.
Captured animals change sides and can be dropped on any empty square, as in shogi. There is no check: you win by capturing the opponent's lion, or by moving your own lion onto the far row where it can't be captured.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Shogi | Animal Shogi |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Standard Shogi9×9. | Animal Shogi3 columns by 4 rows. |
| Pieces | Standard Shogi20 each: king, rook, bishop, gold and silver generals, knights, lances and pawns. | Animal Shogi4 each: the lion (moves like a king), the giraffe (one step straight in any direction), the elephant (one step diagonally) and the chick (one step forward). |
| Promotion | Standard ShogiMost pieces may promote in the far three rows; pawns, lances and knights must when they would have no move left. | Animal ShogiOnly the chick promotes. It becomes a hen, which moves like a gold general, as soon as it moves onto the far row. A chick dropped on the far row stays a chick, and a captured hen goes back to hand as a chick. |
| Drops | Standard ShogiOne unpromoted pawn per file, no checkmate by a pawn drop, and no piece dropped where it could never move. | Animal ShogiA captured animal can be dropped on any empty square, with no other limits. |
| How to win | Standard ShogiCheckmate the opponent's king. A king may never be left in check. | Animal ShogiCapture the opponent's lion, or move your lion onto the far row on a square the opponent doesn't attack (the "try"). There is no check, so a lion left under attack can simply be taken. |
| Repetition | Standard ShogiThe game is drawn when the same position occurs for the fourth time, unless one player gave check with every move of the repetition: that player loses. | Animal ShogiThe game is drawn when the same position occurs for the third time. |
History
Animal shogi was designed in 2008 by Madoka Kitao, a women's professional shogi player, to introduce children to shogi, with illustrations by fellow professional Maiko Fujita. It became a popular boxed game in Japan and was later published abroad as Let's Catch the Lion!
The board is tiny but the game is not trivial, and it is small enough to be solved: in 2009 a computer analysis worked out the result of every reachable position with perfect play.