What is Hot Dark Beast Chess?

Hot Dark Beast Chess is a two-player browser animal chess game. Sixteen animal pieces start hidden on a shuffled 4×4 board. Take turns revealing, moving and capturing pieces, using rank advantages and the rat-captures-elephant rule. Play on one screen or online, and customize capture penalties, winner rewards and optional movement rules.

Game Rules

1. Initial Setup: The board has 16 cells, and each player owns 8 pieces (Ranks 0-7). All pieces are shuffled and placed face-down at the start.
2. Player's Turn: Players take turns. Each turn, you can: a. Flip a face-down piece; b. Move an owned, revealed piece (one square orthogonally; Leopards can move diagonally if enabled).
3. Rank Hierarchy: Higher ranks capture lower ranks (e.g., Rank 7 Elephant eats Rank 6 Lion). Same ranks eliminate each other. Special Rule: The smallest Rank 0 Rat can capture the largest Rank 7 Elephant.
4. Penalty System: Whenever your piece is captured, you must perform the corresponding penalty. Penalties can be customized in the settings.
5. Winning: The first player to capture all of the opponent's pieces or if the opponent has no legal moves left wins. The winner receives a preset 'Victory Reward'.

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