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Dark Chess Rules: Capture Ranks, Cannon Jumps and the King-Pawn Rule

Updated 2026-10-30 · MacePlay

Dark Chess (暗棋, also called Banqi or half-board chess) uses the 32 pieces of Chinese chess, but every piece starts face down, shuffled across half a board. On each turn you either flip a piece or move one of your own face-up pieces, and nobody knows who is red and who is black until the first flip. This guide covers capture ranks, the king and pawn exception, how the cannon jumps, and how wins, draws and scoring work, with worked examples.

The basics

• Board and pieces: a 4 × 8 grid of 32 squares, filled exactly by the 32 pieces. Each side has 16: 1 king (帥 / 將), 2 advisors (仕 / 士), 2 elephants (相 / 象), 2 chariots (車), 2 horses (馬), 2 cannons (炮 / 包) and 5 pawns (兵 / 卒), all face down in random order.
• Who starts: the system picks the first player at random.
• Choosing colours: the first player to flip takes the colour of the piece they turn over, and the other player gets the other colour.
• One action per turn: flip any face-down piece (even one that turns out to be your opponent's), or move one of your face-up pieces.
• Movement: every piece moves the same way, one square up, down, left or right. No diagonals and no multi-square moves. Moving onto an empty square is a move; moving onto a face-up enemy piece is a capture.

Face-down pieces cannot move and cannot be captured. They only count once they are flipped.

Capture ranks

A normal piece can only capture an adjacent, face-up enemy piece, and only one of equal or lower rank (chariot takes chariot, pawn takes pawn).

The king and pawn exception: the king is the highest piece but cannot capture a pawn, while a pawn can capture the king. An enemy pawn next to your king is a real threat.

How the cannon jumps

• A cannon moves like everything else: one square onto an empty square.
• A cannon cannot capture an adjacent piece. It captures by jumping: along a straight line, it must pass over exactly one piece (face up or face down, either side), then takes the first piece beyond it.
• Empty squares do not count, so a cannon can jump from a distance.
• The first piece beyond the screen must be a face-up enemy piece. If it is your own piece or a face-down one, there is no capture in that direction.
• A cannon capture ignores rank, so a cannon can even take the king.

In MacePlay, a face-down piece can serve as the cannon's screen and the jump has no distance limit. Every other piece, chariots included, moves one square only; there are no flying-chariot house rules.

Winning, draws and scoring

• Win: capture all of your opponent's pieces, or leave your opponent with no legal action on their turn (no face-down pieces left and no possible move).
• Draw: 60 moves in a row, counting both players, with no capture and no flip.
• Resign: you can resign at any time, which counts as a loss.
• Time: 20 seconds per move. On a timeout the system moves for you (flipping a random piece if any are face down), and three timeouts in a row lose the game.

Before each game both players put in the same coin stake, set by the room you choose:

Worked examples

Example 1: the first flip decides colours

You move first and flip a black horse. From now on you play black and your opponent plays red. If a red pawn is face up next to your horse, it cannot take it, because a pawn ranks below a horse; a red chariot in the same spot could.

Example 2: king meets pawn

You are red, and a black pawn has just been flipped next to your king.

• Your king takes the pawn: not allowed. Kings cannot capture pawns.
• On your opponent's turn, that pawn can capture your king.
• What to do: move the king away, or capture the pawn with a nearby advisor, elephant, chariot or horse.

Example 3: a cannon jump

One row reads, from left to right: your red cannon, a face-down piece, an empty square, then your opponent's face-up black king.

• The cannon jumps the face-down piece, crosses the empty square and takes the king: allowed. Cannon captures ignore rank.
• If the king were right next to the cannon: not allowed. Cannons cannot capture adjacent pieces.
• If the first piece past the screen were your own or still face down: not allowed, and the cannon cannot look any further.

You go on to capture every enemy piece. With a stake of 1,000 each, you get back 1,000 + 1,000 − 50 = 1,950 coins. In a draw, both players get their 1,000 back.

Common questions

Can I flip a piece that turns out to be my opponent's?

Yes. Any face-down piece can be flipped, and it belongs to whichever colour it is. Turning up a strong enemy piece next to your weak one can hand your opponent a capture, so check the neighbours first.

Can pieces of the same rank capture each other?

Yes. In MacePlay equal ranks can capture, so when two equal pieces meet, whoever moves first has the edge.

Can a pawn capture a cannon?

No. The cannon is rank 2 and the pawn rank 1; a pawn can only take pawns and the king.

How can someone run out of moves?

While any piece is still face down you can always flip, so it cannot happen early. Once everything is face up, a player whose pieces are all blocked, with nothing to move to or capture, loses.

Play Dark Chess in MacePlay

Dark Chess in MacePlay is a one-on-one game on a wooden board in a cosy teahouse: tap a face-down piece to flip it, tap your own piece to see where it can move and what it can capture, and the teahouse hostess cheers your good moves. There are novice, standard and expert rooms, AI players step in when no opponent is waiting, and you can open a private room to play friends. For another head-to-head game, try Mahjong Duel, or Big Two and Thirteen.

MacePlay is for adults 18+ and for entertainment only. Virtual coins have no cash value and cannot be exchanged for cash or goods.

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