Fearsome Chess

Inspired by the complex hierarchy of fear found in nature, this game gives a new life to a childhood game like "Fear Me!" by mixing fear relationship with chess strategy.  

This game has different names around the world and uses different animals in the fear hierarchy according to the local fauna. The game I remember had the following hierarchy:

• Mouse was afraid of the Cat
• Cat was afraid of the Dog
• Dog was afraid of the Wolf
• Wolf was afraid of the Hunter
• Hunter was afraid of the Mouse

I had to add an extra Bear in this hierarchy (in between the Wolf and Hunter) in order to match the six types of chess pieces. Also, the Mouse is replaced by a Squirrel. 

Setup

The initial setup looks like this:

For a 10x10 chessboard the setup looks like this:

Pieces

Each player has the following pieces:

• 2 Hunters (Kings),
• 2 Bears (Queens),
• 2 Wolves (Rooks),
• 2 Dogs (Bishops),
• 2 Cats (Knights),
• 8 Squirrels (Pawns).

On a 10x10 version each player gets two extra Squirrels. 

Pieces move like their chess counterparts. 

Capturing

Capturing follows the hierarchy of fear. Squirrel can be captured by Cats, or other Squirrel. Cats can be captured by Dogs, or other Cats, etc. Hunters can be captured by Squirrels, or other Hunters. 

Rules

Objective

The objective of the game is to control three of the four red squares. Moving a piece on a red square does not count as controlling it if that piece still has natural predators on the board. 

Natural Predators

Each piece has its own natural predators:

• Hunters = Squirrels and other Hunters,
• Bears = Hunters and other Bears,
• Wolves = Bears and other Wolves,
• Dogs = Wolves and other Dogs,
• Cats = Dogs and other Cats,
• Squirrels = Cats and other Squirrels.

Winning the game

• Controlling three red squares by pieces without natural predators
• If these pieces still have natural predators on the board but they are unable to reach these red squares

Additional rules

• Pawns (Squirrels) can promote to any piece,
• There is no castling, no check, and no check mate,
• Pawns (Squirrels) can move two squares on the first move.

Notes

I have replaced Mice with Squirrels because they look much cooler and are already part of several chess sets. 

Last revised by Florin Lupusoru.