Game of the Seven Kingdoms

Game of the Seven Kingdoms is a seven-player variant of xiangqi, the game often called Chinese chess. Tradition ascribes it to the scholar Sima Guang, although he died well before the thirteenth century, to which the game is traditionally dated, and some writers doubt that it took its form that early. The rules appear in a book attributed to him. It is played on a board like a Go board, and each of the seven players commands one of the Warring States kingdoms: Qin, Chu, Han, Qi, Wei, Zhao and Yan. Each side has seventeen pieces, including a general, a chancellor, a diplomat, a cannon, a go-between, an archer, a crossbowman, daggers, swordsmen and knights. A neutral emperor piece sits in the centre. With fewer than seven players the extra kingdoms can be removed or shared, and players may team up without discussing moves.