Rules of Gungi

If youre anywhere near up to speed in Hunter x Hunter, theres a decent chance youve heard of gungi. During a very
intense portion of the narrative, the game becomes a pivotal piece on the storyboard; however, all we really learn
about gungi is that its a chess-variant in which you can stack pieces on one another. The rules are left unexplored by
Togashi, and fans in the English-speaking HxH community are left alone in a dark continent. Lucky for us, the fans in
Japan are on top of things.
Turns out that fans have already sorted out and laid down functional rules for gungi across a series of forum threads!
WHOA! A Japanese blogger going by Nishitsuji Sannkurou extensively covered instructions for gungi in this post; I
translated it for personal reference and will now confer the rules to you.
Convoluted board game under the cut.

The battle takes places on a 9x9 tile board. This is the same board as shogi, gungis chief inspiration. The opposing
forces are Black and White. Black moves first, and the two sides take turns moving pieces.
Pieces that are on the board are called active pieces, while captured pieces are taken from the board and added to
your hand.
Horizontal rows will be referred to as rank, while vertical columns will be called files.

The first three ranks on your side of the board are considered your territory. Unlike chess, there is no mandated
starting positions for pieces in gungi. After deciding Black and White, each game starts off with a period called
the Initial Arrangement. During this time, the players take turns placing their pieces wherever they please within their
own territory. Every single piece must be placed during the Initial Arrangement.
It should be noted here that each piece in gungi has two sides, Front and Back. Only Front pieces can be played in
the Initial Arrangement. The nature of game pieces will be explored further in another castle.
It should also be noted here that there must be a Pawn in every file by the end of this phase.

Pieces can be stacked on top of each other in gungi; any position on the board with such an arrangement is called
a tower. A tower can have up to three layers, called tiers. That way, we can have peppy-happy alliterative shorthand
like 2 Tier Tower and 3 Tier Tower when referring to configurations on the board. While it is safest to build on your
own pieces, it is also possible to land on your opponents pieces and share a tower with your opponent.
Within a tower, two pieces of the same type and team cannot coexist. It is not against the rules to occupy the tower of
an enemy that contains a piece of the same type. Here are some examples:
Pawn-Pawn-Gold is prohibited, you animal
Pawn-Pawn-Pawn is prohibited, you monster
Pawn-Bronze-Gold is allowed, you blight upon existence
(Your) Pawn (Your) Gold (Enemy) Gold is allowed, Illumi
Only pieces on the top-most tier of a tower are able to move. Any piece(s) below are rendered immobile until the
piece(s) above them have been removed.

In gungi, there are two kinds of attacks: mobile and immobile.

In a mobile strike, you attack an enemy piece within your pieces range, occupy its position, and add the enemy
piece to your hand. When attacking another tower with a mobile strike, you can only attack the top-most tier, no
matter how high your own tower may be. This means that when you attack a tower, you replace the top-most tier.
This is turn exposes the attacker to the threat of an immobile strike.
An immobile strike lets you attack the piece above or below your piece in a tower and add it to your hand. If the
piece was on top, you simply capture it. If the piece was below, the pieces above it descend to a lower tier. You
cannot attack a piece that is two tiers above or below your piece.
When you capture a Front piece, the accompanying Back piece is added to your hand, and vice-versa. The pieces in
your hand can be played anew as a member your team. Doing this is called a drop. Like any other move or attack,
a drop takes up one turn.
You can drop a piece from your hand onto any empty space on the board. You cannot capture a piece with a drop,
and aside from a few exceptions, you cannot drop directly on top of another piece, whether it be yours or the
opponents piece. Again with some exceptions, drops can be used to achieve checkmate.

The ultimate goal of gungi is to capture the Commander. This piece shares the functionality of the King in chess, but
was likely renamed for political reasons within the HxH universe.
If a Commander is in range of a mobile or immobile strike from the enemy such that it could be captured on the next
turn, it is said to be in check. A Commander cannot move into check. To avoid defeat, a Commander in check must
either run away, block the attack of the piece(s) that threaten it, or eliminate the piece(s) that threaten it. Failure to do
any of these results in checkmate. Whoever puts their opponent in checkmate wins.

There are a total of 46 pieces on the board at the start of the game, 23 for each side. As mentioned before, each of
these pieces has a Front and Back side with different abilities. The pairings and amount of each pair per team are as
follows:
Front Back (amount)
Commander N/A (1)
Captain Pistol (2)
Samurai Pike (2)
Spy Clandestinite(3)
Catapult Lance (1)
Fortress Lance (1)
Hidden DragonDragon King(1)
ProdigyPhoenix(1)
Bow Arrow (2)
Pawn - Bronze (7)
Pawn - Silver (1)
Pawn - Gold (1)
We have assembled quite a peanut gallery. Each piece has a Chinese character that labels them and a range of
movement that can be altered by moving to a different tier in their own tower. Any piece that is on top of an enemy
piece has the same set of moves as Gold, no matter what. Some also have more nuanced special abilities. Well start
to cover those here.

-Commander

Cannot move to a space where it would be put into check

When in check, cannot run to a space occupied by your own pieces
 A tower cannot be built on top of the Commander
Cannot receive the Mobile Range Expansion Effect
Cannot be added to hand
-CAPTAIN

Has the 1-3 Tier Exchange Effect

-SAMURAI

Has the Substitution Effect

-SPY

Able to jump over other pieces

Has the Forced Recovery Effect
Has the ability Land-Link
-CATAPULT

Completely immobile! Cant do mobile strikes at all!! Wow!!!

Imparts the mighty Mobile Range Expansion Effect
 Has the ability Land-Link
Cannot be added to your hand
-FORTRESS

Completely immobile! Cant do mobile strikes at all!! Wow!!!

Actually it cant do immobile strikes either!!!! Incredible!!!!!
Imparts the mighty Mobile Range Expansion Effect
Has the ability Land-Link
Cannot be added to your hand
-HIDDEN DRAGON

First tier moves the same as a Rook

Doesnt experience the Mobile Range Expansion Effect
-PRODIGY

First tier moves the same as a Bishop

Doesnt experience the Mobile Range Expansion Effect
-BOW
 Able to jump over other pieces
-PAWN

Double-Pawn Drop is foul play

Pawn Drop Checkmate is foul play
Has the Forced Recovery Effect
Following the Initial Arrangement, there must be a Pawn in every file

-PISTOL

No special abilities
-PIKE

No special abilities
-CLANDESTINITE
 Able to jump over other pieces
Has the ability Land-Link
-LANCE

Has the Forced Rearrangement Effect

Has the Force Recovery Effect
-DRAGON KING

Doesnt experience the Mobile Range Expansion Effect

-PHOENIX

Doesnt experience the Mobile Range Expansion Effect

-ARROW
 No special abilities
-BRONZE

Double Bronze is foul play

Getting checkmate with a Bronze is foul play
Has the Betrayal Effect
-SILVER

No special abilities
-GOLD

No special abilities
-
EARTH-LINK!!
Fundamentally, you cant drop on top of active pieces; pieces with the Earth-Link trait are an exception. If no other
pieces are on top of them, you can drop pieces directly onto the Catapult, Fortress, Spy, and Clandestinite.
Only Back pieces can be dropped onto the Spy, and only Front pieces can be dropped onto the Clandestinite.
As a reminder, the Commander, Catapult, and Fortress can never be dropped, as they can never be added to
your hand.
'MOBILE RANGE EXPANSION EFFECT!!
The two immobile pieces Catapult and Fortress have this ability. The Mobile Range Expansion Effect allows every
piece within its range to adopt the mobile range of the tier directly above it. Which is to say, 1 Tier Towers would
behave like 2 Tier Towers and 2 Tier Towers would behave like 3 Tier Towers. Whats more, enemy pieces cannot
jump over pieces within range of the effect.
Your Mobile Range Expansion Effect does not alter the nature of enemy pieces.
The Fortress affects the pieces on top of it and all the pieces in front of it, influencing pieces outside of your territory.
Heres an illustration:

The Catapult only affects the pieces on top of itself and pieces within you territory. Its range is a bit tricky to describe,
so heres an illustration, with red used to indicate the region beyond your territory:

'1-3 TIER EXCHANGE EFFECT!!

The 1-3 Tier Exchange Effect allows a Tier 1 Captain to change places with any allied piece on Tier 3, besides
the Commander. Likewise, a Tier 3 Commander can change places with any allied piece on Tier 1, besides
the Fortress and Catapult. Treat both of these actions as 1 move.
This effect cannot be used in the same tower consecutively.
'SUBSTITUTION EFFECT!!
The effect of having a Samurai. If a Commander to the left,right,front,or back of a Samurai is in check,
the Samurai can trade places with it. Samurai that are in towers do not have this ability effect. Treat the position swap
as 1 move.
'BETRAYAL EFFECT
The effect of having a Bronze. If Bronze captures the top-most piece of a tower, all the enemy pieces
beneath Bronze betray and align with Bronze's team.
If a piece below was an enemy Front, it becomes an allied Back. If it was a Back, it becomes a Front. Turning the
pieces over does not count as a turn. As soon as youve finished turning the pieces over, it becomes your opponents
turn.
'FORCED RECOVERY EFFECT!!
The Forced Recovery Effect applies to Pawns, Spies, and Lances. If any of these pieces move to a position where it
will be unable to move next turn (i.e. the opposite end of the board), you can invoke the Forced Recovery
Effect before the opponents turn. This returns the piece to your hand. Doing so does not count as a turn.
If you attempt to invoke the Forced Recovery Effect right after capturing a piece, the piece will go to the
opponent's hand. Otherwise, the recovered piece goes to your hand.
'FORCED REARRANGEMENT EFFECT!!
In the event that you capture an enemy Lance, your newly acquired Fortress or Catapult is not added to your hand; it
must be placed within your territory immediately.
This does not count as a turn. Your opponent will move after you have finished.

Committing foul play amounts to an immediate loss. Attempting to change your move after youve let go of a piece is
the simplest example of foul play.
'REPETITION
If the same position occurs on the board 4 times in a row, both players have committed foul play. The match ends in
a draw.
'DOUBLE BRONZE
You are not allowed to have 2 or more Bronze pieces in the same file, no matter what. It is foul play whether
you dropped the second Bronze or moved an active Bronze into the file.
If you notice that your opponent committed Double Bronze after you have already resigned, point it out. The foul
play falls onto your opponent and smites them. You win.
'DOUBLE PAWN DROP
You are not allowed to drop a Pawn into a file occupied by another Pawn. Because this only occurs with drops, you
must point out your opponent's foul play before you make your move. Failure to point out a Double Pawn
Drop immediately allows the game to continue normally..
If you are moving active Pawns, it doesnt matter how many wind up in the same file. Howeever, dont forget that
there must be a Pawn in every file by the end of the Initial Arrangement.
'BRONZE CHECKMATE
It is foul play to get checkmate with a Bronze piece. While they can assist in trapping the Commander, they are not
allowed to deal the the final blow.
This applies to both drops and active pieces.
'PAWN DROP CHECKMATE
It is foul play to drop a Pawn in order to achieve checkmate. Using an active Pawn is perfectly fine.

That about settles it! I hope you have fun trying out the game. If theres any interest, I may do another post talking
about match notation, but for now Ill leave you with this important detail:
[7/15/2014 edit]: Capturing a piece is the only way to upgrade them, so dont worry about confusing them with your
own pieces! It may be a good idea to give the front and back of any given piece a different color to help with
distinction. Alternatively, you could leave all pieces the same color and simply remember that upgraded pieces of your
own color are the enemy. Take whichever choice seems best, and stick with it!
Later.