The rules provided here have been collected from Hiramo's Translation of the Japanese rules, which was originally accumulated by a Japanese blogger, Nishitsuji Sannkurou, here.
The game is played on a 9-by-9 (9 x 9) tile board; the same type of board as the one used in Shoji. The opposing forces are Black and White. Black always moves first, and the two sides take turns moving units. Units that are currently on the board are called active, while captured units are taken from the board and added to the capturing player's hand; they are called inactive. Horizontal rows on the board are referred to as ranks, while the vertical columns are referred to as files.
The first three ranks of a player's side of the board are considered their territory. There is no mandated starting positions for units in Gungi; instead the players take turns placing their units wherever they please within their own territory during the Initial Arrangement phase.
The goal of the game is to capture the opposing team's Commander (similar to the role of the King in Chess). If a Commander is in range of a mobile or immobile strike from an enemy unit, such that it could be captured on the next turn, it is said to be in check. A Commander cannot move into check, and a player must make a move on their turn to get their Commander out of check; if they cannot, then their Commander is in checkmate, and they lose the game.
The Initial Arrangement phase happens once at the start of the game. Players take turns placing their units wherever they please within their respective territories. Every single unit must be placed during this phase. All units in Gungi, except for the Commander, have a front side and back side. Only front units, including the Commander, may be placed during this phase.
Additionally, both players must have a Pawn in every file at the end of this phase.
There are two kinds of attacks in Gungi: mobile strikes and immobile strikes. In both cases, the attacked unit is captured.
In a mobile strike, one unit moves to a tower where the unit at the top of that tower is on the opposing team. That unit is captured and added to the moving player's hand, and the moved unit assumes its position.
An immobile strike is one where the attacker and defender are in the same tower. A unit performing an immobile strike can only attack an opposing unit that is one-tier above or below it within its tower. If the defending unit is above, it is simply captured. If the defending unit is below, it is captured, and every remaining unit in the tower above the captured unit's tier descends a tier.
When a unit is captured, the opposite side of that unit is added to the capturing player's hand. That unit is now available to be dropped on the player's next turn. Example: Meruem captures Komugi's Bronze, so Meruem flips it over, and adds it to his hand as a Pawn.
Placing a unit from a player's hand is called a drop. During the initial arrangement phase, a player can only drop units within their own territory, but after the initial arrangement phase, a unit can be dropped on any empty space on the board.
A drop cannot be used to capture a unit, and a unit cannot be dropped directly on another unit, except in specific situations. However, with the exception of a few specific situations, checkmate can be achieved with a drop.
Some units in Gungi also have effects. Effects fall into two categories: active and passive. Active effects can be used on a player's turn in place of them moving a unit, or dropping a unit. Passive effects always apply, and do not require a player spending a turn to use them.
The 1-3 Tier Exchange effect allows a unit in a tower to exchange places with another unit in a tower. In particular, it allows a unit on the first tier of a tower to exchange places with any allied unit on the third tier of a tower, besides the Commander. Likewise, a it allows a unit on the third tier of a tower to exchange places with any allied unit on the first tier of a tower besides the Fortress and Catapult. This effect cannot be used in the same tower consecutively.
If a unit with the Substitution effect is to the left, right, front, or back of an allied Commander that is currently in check, it can trade places with that Commander, provided the Commander would be out of check after the trade. The effect cannot be used in the unit is in a tower with units above it.
If a unit with this effect moves to a position where it will not be able to move on the current player's next turn, the current player can invoke this effect before the opposing player takes their turn in order to return that unit to their hand. When invoked after capturing a unit, the recovered unit goes to the opposing player's hand instead.
- Example 1: Komugi moves her Pawn to the end of the board, and since the Pawn is not in a tower, it cannot move on the next turn, so she invokes the forced recovery effect to return the Pawn to her hand.
- Example 2: Meruem captures Komugi's Fortress at the end of the board with his Spy. Since the Spy cannot move on his next turn, he invokes the forced recovery effect, but instead of going to his hand, the Spy goes to Komugi's hand.
The rules prohibit dropping a unit on top of another active unit. However, units with the Land-Link effect are an exception to this rule. If no other units are on top of them, a player can drop a unit directly onto them. The Spy and Clandestinite are special cases for the Land-Link effect: only front units can be dropped on the Clandestinite, and only back units can be dropped on the Spy.
The two immobile units, Catapult and Fortress, have this effect. This effect allows every unit within the range of the mobile range expansion to adopt the move set of the tier directly above the current tier in their tower. Additionally, units cannot jump over opposing units within the range of the opposing team's mobile range expansions. Units cannot use the opposing team's mobile range expansion.
If a unit with this effect captures a unit at the top-most tier of a tower, all the opposing enemy units beneath the unit, after moving into the tower, align with the team of the capturing unit. If the re-aligned unit was an enemy front unit, it becomes an allied back unit, and vice-versa.
When a unit with this effect is captured, this effect is immediately invoked. The newly acquired unit, after flip, is not added to the capturing player's hand, but instead it is immediately placed within their own territory.
Foul play is a move that results in automatic loss if called out. There are five types of foul play:
- Repetition: If the same position occurs on the board four times in a row, then the game ends in a draw.
- Double Bronze: No player is allowed to have two ore more Bronze units in the same file; doing so is called foul play.
- Double Pawn Drop: No player is allowed to drop a Pawn into a file occupied by another allied Pawn.
- Bronze Checkmate: It is foul play to get checkmate with a Bronze unit.
- Pawn Drop Checkmate: It is foul play to drop a Pawn in order to achieve checkmate.
In Gungi, units can be stocked on top of one another; doing so at any position on the board results in an arrangement called a tower. A tower can be made up of up to three units in tiers. The unit at the bottom of the tower is on the first tier. Towers may be built up of allied and opposing units.
- Within a tower, two units of the same type and team cannot coexist. Example: Pawn (Black) - Pawn (White) - Pawn (Black) is prohibited, but Pawn (Black) - Gold (Black) - Pawn (White) is allowed.
- Only units on the top tier in a tower are allowed to move.
- Units below the top tier in a tower are unable to move unless the units above them move first.
- Units in a tower can attack any opposing unit that is one tier above or below them; this does not apply to units that cannot attack.
There are 46 units in total. Each player starts with 23 units:
| Front | Back | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Pawn | Bronze | 7 |
| Pawn | Silver | 1 |
| Pawn | Gold | 1 |
| Bow | Arrow | 2 |
| Prodigy | Phoenix | 1 |
| Hidden Dragon | Dragon King | 1 |
| Fortress | Lance | 1 |
| Catapult | Lance | 1 |
| Spy | Clandestinite | 3 |
| Samurai | Pike | 2 |
| Captain | Pistol | 2 |
| Commander | - | 1 |
An Arrow is a unit with no special effects.
A Bow is a unit that is capable of jumping over other units. It has no special effects.
A Bronze unit is only capable of moving within the same row. Having two Bronze units in the same file is considered foul play. Getting checkmate with a Bronze unit is also considered foul play.
The Captain has no special effects.
The Catapult is a completely immobile unit that can do immobile strikes.
The Catapult embarks the Mobile Range Expansion effect onto the allied units on top of itself and to the allied units that are within the controlling player's territory as illustrated below:
The red cells mark the end of the territory belonging to the controller player, while the green cells mark the cells in which the effect applies.
A Clandestinite is a unit that is capable of jumping over other units.
The Commander has the same role as the King does in chess. The Commander cannot move into a space that would put itself into check. A tower cannot be built on top of a Commander. The Commander also does not experience the Mobile Range Expansion effect. The Commander has no special effects.
A Dragon King on the first tier of a tower moves the same way as a Rook does in chess with slight modifications: it can move one space in each diagonal direction. The Dragon King does not experience the mobile range expansion effect. The Dragon King does not have any special effects.
A Fortress is a completely immobile unit that is also unable to do immobile strikes.
The Fortress embarks the Mobile Range Expansion effect onto the allied units on top of itself, and to the allied units that are in front of it, influencing even allied units outside of the controlling player's territory. It is illustrated below:
The green cells in the above image mark the cells that will receive the effect.
Gold has no special effects.
Hidden Dragon
A Hidden Dragon on the first tier of a tier moves the same as a Rook does in chess. It does not experience the Mobile Range Expansion effect. It does not have any special effects.
A Lance on the first tier of a tower moves similar to how a Rook moves in chess, except is can only move forward.
A Pawn is the simplest and most numerous unit in the game.
A Phoenix is a unit that does not experience the Mobile Range Expansion effect. The Phoenix does not have any special effects. A Phoenix on the first tier of a tower moves similar to how a Bishop moves in chess, but with one slight modification: it can also move one square to the front, left, right, or back.
A Pike has no special effects.
A Pistol has no special effects.
A Prodigy on the first tier of a tower moves the same as a Bishop does in chess. It also does not experience the Mobile Range Expansion effect. The Prodigy does not have any special effects.
A Samurai is useful for assisting a Commander in getting out of check.
Silver has no special effects.
A Spy is capable of jumping over other units. It cannot move backwards.
