Each side has one Queen and several Guards. Every piece steps one square in any direction — straight or diagonal.
A Guard can capture anything next to it, no matter what's protecting it.
Your Queen can only capture a piece that's standing completely alone — any friendly piece beside it keeps it safe from her (though not from an enemy Guard).
Capture the enemy Queen to win. Keep your own pieces close together, and watch for the moment your opponent doesn't.
How to play
Each side has one Queen and several Guards, set on their home row.
On your turn, move one piece one square in any direction — straight or diagonal — into an empty square, or onto an adjacent enemy square to capture it.
A Guard can capture any adjacent enemy piece — Guard or Queen — no matter what's standing beside it.
A Queen can only capture an adjacent enemy piece — Guard or Queen — if that piece is standing alone, with no other friendly piece next to it. Any friendly piece beside it — Guard or Queen — protects it from a Queen's capture, though not from another Guard's.
Capture the enemy Queen to win. If you have no legal move on your turn, you lose.
Getting a piece next to the enemy Queen doesn't capture her by itself — it only threatens her. The capture still takes a separate move, so the defender gets a chance to respond.
If both sides are ever reduced to a lone Queen with no Guards left, the game is declared a draw on the spot — two bare Queens can never force a capture from each other.