1. The game board is placed (lengthwise) in between the two players. 2. Decide which player plays with which color. The player using the white pieces starts. 3. White places his Shinobi (mercenary) and Daimyo (warlord, see 'playing pieces') on his side of the playing field, like shown in the diagram. (Daimyo on the left, Shinobi on the right). Black places his Daimyo and Shinobi across the daimyo and Shinobi of the white player.(Daimyo on the right, Shinobi on the left) 4. The playing Tiles are turned with the 4-color circle face up, shuffled, and are placed on the board, so they fill up all the blank spaces. 5. The players wish each other senryaku wo kuwadate (a good strategy)

1. Flip two playing tiles.
2. Move a piece / capture an opponent's piece.

Army Tiles:
These tiles are used to gain new pieces. Every army tile consists of 2 illustrations; a kamon (family symbol) and one of the playing pieces. The tiles can yield a total of 8 Kibatai (horsemen), 8 Ashigaru (swordsmen) and 8 Kihei, divided in to 4 different kamon (red, yellow, green, blue). There are 2 tiles of every possible variation.
If a player manages to flip 2 identical tiles, this player has achieved Engun (reinforcements) and gains the playing piece that is depicted on the tiles. The player removes the flipped tiles and places his new piece on the position of the tile that was flipped last.
If the player flips 2 different tiles, he flips them back again and nothing happens.
Either way, the player ends his turn.

Landscape Tiles:
The landscape tiles determine the shape of the battlefield. There are 2 different kinds of landscape tile; the Ki (tree) and the Heiya (open ground). At the start of the game, the battlefield contains 8 Heiya and 6 Ki.
If the player flips 1 or 2 Ki, he flips them back again and nothing happens. The turn ends. (So Ki can never be removed from the battlefield).

Yonhon no ki (4 trees) rule:
If a player flips 2 trees in 2 successive turns, that player looses the game. The Daimyo commits Seppuku (suicide).

Example: Richard cannot move his daimyo because then it would be threatened by Rob's Ashigaru. Richard's Daimyo needs more walking space, so he decides to flip 2 tiles. He flips 2 trees. Rob decides to flip 2 tiles as well, but does not achieve Engun. Richard sees no way out, so he flips 2 trees again. Richard loses the game.

Whenever the player flips a Heiya, he removes the Heiya from the board and flips another tile instead, this can go on until the player doesn't flip a Heiya anymore.

Optional Shinobi wo tsukau rule:
If a player's first 2 flipped tiles are both Heiya, then that player gains a Shinobi on the position of the Heiya that was removed last. (If one of the first 2 tiles was not a Heiya, but for example the 3rd tile is, the player does not gain a Shinobi)

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2. Move a piece / capture an opponent's piece
A player's army can consist of 5 types of pieces, the number of pieces and the composition of the army depends on the times a player has achieved Engun.

The pieces can all move and capture opponent's pieces, each type of piece has it's own way of moving around (tip: look at the weapons the pieces are holding to quickly see how a piece can move). The pieces can not move onto or over a space, occupied by a playing tile or any other piece (the Kibatai is an exception to this rule)
'Capturing' a piece means, that a player's piece is moved onto a space, occupied by one of the opponent's pieces. Since there can never be more than one piece on any given space, the opponent's piece is removed from the game and has been 'captured'. The other piece takes over the space of the captured piece (after capturing, a piece can't move further).
After moving or capturing a piece, a player's turn ends.
The Kibatai is the only piece that can 'jump' over tiles and other pieces. The Kibatai, however, can't land on a space occupied by either another friendly piece or a playing tile.

During the game, you can encounter the following situations:

Kyousei ("forced"):
A player is forced to make a move, because otherwise, an opponent's piece will be able to capture the Daimyo.

Haisen ("lost"):
A player is forced to make a move, but there is no possible move left to rescue the Daimyo. The forced player has lost the game.

These events are announced by the player who is able to capture the opponent's Daimyo.

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Playing Pieces

	the Daimyo (warlord) Can move / capture over 1 space horizontal, vertical or diagonal.		The Shinobi (mercenary) Can move / capture over 1 or more spaces horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
	The Ashigaru (swordsman) can move / capture over 1 or more spaces horizontal or vertical.		The Kibatai (horsemen) Can move / capture over 1 space horizontal or vertical, followed by 1 space diagonal. The Kibatai is the only piece that is allowed to 'jump' over other pieces or playing tiles.
	The Kihei (spearman) Can move / capture over 1 or more spaces diagonal.

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End of the game
The game ends, when Haisen is declared or when a player plays Yonhon no Ki. The player who is in the Haisen position or the player who plays the Yonhon no ki has lost the game.

Optional Nobori rule:
This variation uses the 2 markers, called Nobori (flags)
The 2 Nobori are placed on the 2 flipped tiles at the end of the turn. If no new tiles are flipped this turn, the Nobori are removed at the end of turn (this happens when a player has moved / captured a piece, has achieved Engun, or played Shinobi wo tsukau).The tiles with Nobori on them, can not be flipped.