========================================================================== THE ANIMAL GAME adapted for computer by Peter Donnelly 1301 Ryan Street Victoria BC Canada V8T 4Y8 Version 1.0 - February 1990 ========================================================================== NOTICE ------ The program is released unconditionally into the public domain. However, the author always appreciates donations from those who wish to recognize his contribution to the hobby of computing. The Animal Game was created with Turbo Pascal and Turbo Assembler, which are copyrighted programs of Borland International. =========================================================================== HARDWARE REQUIRED ----------------- To run the program you need an IBM-compatible microcomputer with VGA or 16-color EGA system. =========================================================================== BACKGROUND ---------- The Animal Game is of Chinese origin. How old it is, or how widely played, I do not know. I have in my possession a cheap set of wooden pieces with a paper board, purchased in a Chinatown shop in the 1970s. For the rules of the game I have relied on R.C. Bell's "Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations" (Oxford, 1960), the only book where I have seen the game mentioned. Bell calls it the Jungle Game, but this is not an accurate translation of the Chinese name, Shou Qi, nor does it truly reflect the variety of animals represented by the pieces. =========================================================================== HOW TO PLAY ----------- The rules are very simple. The board represents the territories of two warring packs of animals, separated by a river which is spanned by three bridges. At each end of the board is a den surrounded by three pitfalls. The object is to get an animal into the enemy's den, and the computer will announce a win when either player cannot be stopped from doing so on the following turn. A piece can move one square at a time in any non-diagonal direction. The lion and tiger can also leap in a straight line across the river, or from bridge to bridge. No animal except the rat can enter the water. A rat in the water blocks the leap of a lion or tiger, whether friendly or enemy, on its rank or file. You cannot move a piece into your own den. A piece can capture any other piece that has the same or a lesser value, by moving onto the same square. An exception is that the elephant is considered to be weaker than the rat, because the rat can kill the elephant by running into its ear and gnawing its brain. However, the rat cannot attack the elephant from the water. An animal in an enemy pitfall can be captured by any other animal. Otherwise pitfalls do not affect movement or capture. On two points Bell is not clear, and I have made the following assumptions about the rules: (1) the rat can attack the enemy rat from the water, though it cannot capture the elephant in this way; (2) a piece in a friendly pitfall retains its fu ļ N