The Rules of Play

Summary

Anibattles is an online strategy game, based on a board game of the same name. The rules are simple but the game play is complex. Players take turns to move their pieces around the board, attempting to pounce on weaker opposition while not falling prey to each animal's natural enemy.

Objective

To win the game you must remove all the opponents animals from the board. In some cases this may not be possible in which case the game is awarded to the player with the most animals remaining. In very unusual circumstances the game may end in a tie.

The Animals

Elephant	With its great weight and big feet, it can crush the snake and the mongoose as it walks over their holes in the ground, but the elephant is afraid of mice and cannot catch birds.
Mouse	The mouse scares the elephant and is too fast to be caught by the mongoose, but it can be trapped by the snake and picked up the bird.
Mongoose	The mongoose can capture the bird and snake, but it can be stepped on by the elephant and can't catch the speedy mouse.
Bird	The bird can catch the mouse, and is too fast to be caught by the elephant as it can land on the elephant's back, but the snake and mongoose can both surprise and catch the bird.
Snake	The sly snake can surprise attack the bird and the mouse, but the snake always loses to the elephant and the mongoose.

Movement

Players take it in turns to move one of their animals on the board. A piece may move only one space to any adjacent square either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Two pieces may not occupy the same space. However, you may move of one of your animals onto a square containing an opponent's animal. In this case a battle occurs and the winner remains on the square while the loser is removed from the game. Battles are resolved according to the rules in the Animals section or the simplified table below. When an attacking player wins a battle they earn another move before their turn is up.

Battle Table

Select the animals that are fighting from the top row and the left hand column and locate the square in the center of the table where the row and column instersect. The animal is this square will be the winner of a battle between those two animals. Animals of the same type always tie.