How to play
Banqi uses the 32 Xiangqi pieces on a 4 × 8 board, all shuffled and face down. On your turn you either flip one face-down piece or move one of your face-up pieces one square up, down, left or right. The very first flip decides the colours: whoever flips first plays the colour of that piece. A piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece next to it, and only face-up pieces can be captured. You win when the computer has no pieces left or no legal move.
Capture ranks
From strongest to weakest: General (帥/將), Advisor (仕/士), Elephant (相/象), Chariot (俥/車), Horse (傌/馬), Cannon (炮/包), Soldier (兵/卒). A piece captures pieces of the same or lower rank, with two exceptions: the Soldier can capture the General, and the General cannot capture Soldiers. The Cannon steps one square like everyone else, but it captures only by jumping over exactly one piece — face up or face down — along a row or column, and then it can take any enemy piece at any distance. If 50 turns go by without a flip or a capture, the game is a draw (Taiwan house rules).
Controls and tips
Tap a face-down piece to flip it, tap your own piece to see its moves, then tap a dot to move or capture. Undo takes back your last turn — any pieces still face down are reshuffled, so it can’t be used to peek. Flip next to pieces you can defend, keep your General away from enemy Soldiers and Cannons, and remember that a hidden piece can also be a screen for a Cannon jump. Easy plays loosely, Normal weighs every possible flip, and Hard looks further ahead. Wins are saved for each level in this browser.