Fangqi () is a
strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
played traditionally throughout
Northern China
Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions is not precisely defined and only serve to depict where there appears to be regional differences between the climate ...
as a training game for weiqi (
Go). Fangqi is also known as diūfāng () and xiàfāng (). Muslim people of Chinese origin (
Dungans
Dungan, Xiao'erjing: ; zh, s=东干族, t=東干族, p=Dōnggān zú, w=Tung1kan1-tsu2, , Xiao'erjing: ; russian: Дунгане, ''Dungane''; ky, Дуңгандар, ''Duñgandar'', دۇنغاندار; kk, Дүңгендер, ''Düñgende ...
), brought the game with them to Central Asian countries such as
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
and
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.
Equipment
Board size varies from region to region.
In
Ningxia, the game is played on a 7×8 gridded board using black and white Go stones, 28 stones per player. The game is popular in agricultural communities in
Northwestern China, and often played on a board traced out on the ground.
Rules
The pieces are played on grid line intersections, the same as in Go. The game is similar in concept to
nine men's morris:
#Players alternate turns placing stones, attempting to form 2×2 squares, until the board is filled.
#Each player removes one of their opponent's stones.
#Each player counts up the squares he/she has formed and removes an equal number of the opponent's stones, as long as those pieces are not part of a square.
#Players alternate turns moving stones; pieces can move any distance vertically or horizontally along a grid. Each time a player forms a square, the player removes one of the opponent's stones (again, as long as the piece is not part of an existing square).
The player who removes all of the opponent's stones is the winner.
Variants
Xinjiang Fāngqí is played on a 7×7 board. Because this leads to an odd number of playing points (49) the first player has an advantage. Thus, the second player is allowed to remove one more stone from the opponent during the initial removal of pieces.
Other variants of the game allow encirclement of stones, as in Go. Still other variants disallow certain moves, for example, forming a square in the same way repeatedly (similar to the
ko rule in Go).
Because of the game's popularity in rural areas, the game has many variants, each specific to its local area.
*
Ningxia Fāngqí
*
Xinjiang Fāngqí
*
Tibet Fāngqí
*
Nigel Fāngqí
*
Qinghai Fāngqí
*
大邊棋
*
關中掐方棋
*
六州棋
*
六道棋
*
五棍棋
*
大方棋
References
*
External links
Article describing the game and a few variants
Site describing the Xinjiang variant{{in lang, zh
Abstract strategy games
Chinese ancient games
Traditional board games