Shoana Hunt
United States
California
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Chess......... with an elephant. How many times do you get to see something like that? With rabbits that scowl and camels that push horses down holes, Arimaa is by far one of the best games I've ever played.
One of the things I like doing with games after I've played them, is comparing and contrasting them to others. This one was like a gold mine in the way that there were so many things to compare and contrast with. For instance, I noticed that with Chess, there are the same number of pieces, the same types of pieces, and a few of the same rules. True, you can place the pieces anywhere in the first two rows for Arimaa, but if you put them in a certain order for both sides, it looks like you could be playing a type of animal chess.
In chess, each piece has its own way of moving, therefore, making some of them more precious and more powerful than others. In Arimaa, all of the pieces move the same way, except for the rabbits, who cannot move backwards. Since the pieces in Arimaa all move the same way, you might think to yourself, "Well, that doesn't make it very fun," but some of these pieces are still more powerful than others. In fact, there's a hierarchy in the game you have to remember. Elephants are stronger than camels, camels are stronger than horses, horses are stronger than dogs, dogs are stronger than cats, and cats are stronger than rabbits. For instance, if you had an elephant next to a camel, unless the camel has a friend (a piece of the same color) next to him, it cannot move be cause it is afraid of the elephant.
Another thing different between the two games, to get rid of a piece in chess, you simply have to move onto the square another piece is on, but in Arimaa, you have to push a piece down a trap to get it out of the game. Also, in Chess, you have to get rid of the opponent's king if you want to win, in Arimaa, however, to win, you have to get one of your bunny-rabbits to the far side of the board, which can be a lot tougher. As you can see, there are a lot of differences between thes two games, even if they look so much alike.
I would like to thank Zman games for publishing this awesome game and, of course, I'd like to give thanks to Omar and Aamir Syed for designing it. I rate this game  out of , and I'm hoping to play it again soon.
FlameGirl
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Markus Hagenauer
Germany
Surheim
Germany
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FlameGirl wrote: Chess......... with an elephant. How many times do you get to see something like that?
XiangQi comes to my mind.
But a great review on a great game anyway. 
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Michael Cox
United States
Summerville
SC
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Or Dou Shou Qi.
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Hertzog Johannes van Heerden
South Africa
Johannesburg
Gauteng
Currently modding BSG PBF 235
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Great review of a great game
I love Arimaa too, and whenever I see a chess set these days, I immediately think of playing Arimaa with it instead 
It's easy to teach to new players, and most people already own a chess set, so start with the conversions hehe
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Pete
United Kingdom
Redhill / Torpoint
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Nice review
I've found some people have trouble remembering the hierarchy of the animals, so I made a set where the thickness of each counter reflects the strength of the animal.
Otherwise, it's very easy to learn, and good fun.
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Lacombe
Louisiana
It was a dark and stormy night.
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For 11 years old, you write remarkably well and with admirable style. Bravo.
And thank you for using the correct term "bunny-rabbits" to refer to the rascals.
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Marco Arnaudo
United States
Bloomington
Indiana
"My spoon is too big!"
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great review: clear and up to the point! You explain the game very well; from your description I really got a good sense of how it works.
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Marco
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