Lai wrote on Fri, Jun 29, 2012 02:43 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
(Taken from the Baidu encyclopedia page and the Wikipedia page)
This game has a history more than 900 years as it is invented by Sima Guang
in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is so old that some rules may not be
found.
1.Archer and Crossbowmen: They do not, opposite to their names, capture
from afar. Instead, they move just like Q4 and Q5 respectively.
2.Knights: Knights cannot leap pieces in both the Baidu entry and the Wiki
entry, although the Wiki entry describe it as can move at most 3 diagonally
after moving horizontally 1 (i.e. a t[WB3]).
3.Zhou: Yes, the Zhou king (should be emperor because of status, but
translated literally, a King as the title of the Emperor is invented by the
First Emperor of Qin) is neutral and does not move, but Wiki says that it
can be leapt over by the Cannon to capture.
For what the purpose is, ask Sima himself. Also, Sima didn’t state the
drinking rule himself (probably) and instead proposed that (1) The
objective of the game is to become the Tyrant (as did Qin in 221 B. C.).
(2) If the General is captured, ALL other pieces are under control of the
captor and (3) If the 10 pieces are captured by one single country,
(according to Baidu) all remaining pieces come under control of the captor
or (according to Wiki) all remaining pieces except the General come under
control of the captor.
May I ask that is Qin benefited from (1) is the first to move, (2) is
spaced further from others and/or (3) is the first to ally others when
there are not enough people playing?