Board and setup
The board is half a xiangqi board: thirty-two squares in a 4x8 grid, shown here with the long side horizontal. Unlike xiangqi, pieces sit inside the squares rather than on intersections, and the thirty-two shuffled pieces exactly fill the board, every one face-down.
Colors are not assigned in advance. The first player opens the game by flipping any piece: whatever color comes up is theirs, and the opponent plays the other.
Turns
On your turn, do exactly one of two things: flip any face-down tile, or move one of your revealed pieces one square up, down, left, or right. A move may land on an empty square or capture an enemy when the rank rules allow it. A flip reveals the piece to both players, even if it belongs to your opponent. There is no passing.
Capture by rank
Most pieces capture by stepping one square onto an adjacent revealed enemy. They may capture the same rank or any lower rank. On Mistboard, the order is General > Advisor > Elephant > Chariot > Horse > Soldier. Two exceptions connect the ends of the ladder: a soldier can capture the general, and the general cannot capture soldiers.
Face-down tiles cannot be captured. The cannon uses a different attack, so it sits outside the ladder when capturing. The dashed slot shows only how other pieces treat a cannon as a target: it ranks between the horse and soldier.
The cannon
The cannon ignores rank when it captures. Instead of taking an adjacent piece, it travels along a row or column, jumps exactly one intervening piece called the screen, and captures the first piece beyond it if that piece is a revealed enemy. The screen may be friendly, enemy, or face-down. Without a capture, the cannon moves one square like every other piece. Because it needs a screen, it cannot capture an adjacent piece.
Winning and draws
You win when your opponent has no legal move, usually because every enemy piece is captured, sometimes because they are boxed in. The general is not royal: capturing it is progress, not the win, and play continues until one side is wiped out or stuck.
Mistboard draws a game two ways: 40 plies (single moves) with no flip or capture, or threefold repetition, the same position three times. A flip or capture resets both counters because it changes the position irreversibly.
A sample game
Step through a real game between Mistboard’s strongest bot and a human. Red falls behind early, but its elephant becomes the highest-ranked piece left and turns the game around. Each tile reveals its dealt piece when it is first flipped.
Play on Mistboard
Banqi is playable on Mistboard. Play against an engine or challenge a friend. No account required.