How do I draw my own xiangqi board at home?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws for movement, checkmate and both repetition rulings: a side that forces a repetition by perpetual check or perpetual chase loses rather than drawing. The chase half has not been validated against the official casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it before publishing.
Direct answer
Rule nine vertical lines and ten horizontal lines at equal spacing, then leave the inner vertical lines out between the fifth and sixth horizontal lines to make the river. Draw an X across the 3×3 palace at each end, centred on the middle file. For pieces, any 32 flat discs labelled with the seven piece types will do.
The grid step by step
Pick a spacing, say 4 cm, and draw ten horizontal lines that far apart. Then draw nine vertical lines at the same spacing. The result is a grid eight squares wide and nine tall, with 90 intersections. Erase or skip the seven inner vertical lines in the middle row of squares; that row is the river. Keep the two outer lines continuous so the board has a frame.
For each palace, take the middle three files and the three ranks nearest that player, and draw both diagonals through the square they form.
Optional extras
Small corner ticks on the cannon and soldier starting points make setting up easier, and you can number the files 1 to 9 from each player's right to read notation. Neither is needed to play. What the board markings mean explains both.
Making the pieces
Each side needs 16: one general, two advisors, two elephants, two horses, two chariots, two cannons and five soldiers. Coins, bottle caps or card circles work, in two colours. Write the Chinese characters if you want to learn them, or English initials if you are teaching someone new; the Chinese names are listed here. Make the discs smaller than the grid spacing so neighbouring pieces do not overlap.
Then set up from the board setup page and check each piece is on an intersection, not inside a square.
Related questions
Can I use a chess board instead?
Not directly; it has the wrong number of lines and no river or palace. See playing xiangqi on a chess board for the workarounds.
Does the river need to be the same height as a square?
It is conventional and keeps the spacing even, but any clear gap works. Pieces treat crossing it as a single ordinary step.
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