Chess4

A chess variant intended to introduce classic board games to young children. Made available as a print and play game, it has been released under public domain.

Each player starts the game with 5 animals: a kitten (pawn), a lynx and a leopard (bishops), a tiger (rook) and a lion (king). Each piece may move one square towards any direction shown on the piece, but may jump over or swap positions with allied pieces, which makes the game quicker and more dynamic. The lion, however, may only move to capture or to swap positions. If the kitten reaches the last row, it evolves (is promoted) to a lioness (queen), the strongest piece in the game.

It is a cute and colorful game, easy enough for seven years old to play but still challenging for adult players.