What is banqi, the dark-piece xiangqi variant?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing.
Direct answer
Banqi (暗棋, sometimes called blind chess or half chess) uses the same 32 xiangqi pieces, but they start face down and mixed up on the board rather than in the standard setup. Players flip pieces into play one at a time, so the opening is decided by luck and quick tactical judgement rather than memorised theory.
How a game actually starts
The board is the same size as a xiangqi board, but there is no fixed starting position. All 32 pieces are shuffled face down across the points, and the first move is simply flipping one over. Whichever piece and colour appears becomes that player's first piece, and play continues by flipping or moving already-revealed pieces.
Why it plays so differently from standard xiangqi
There is no opening theory to learn because there is no fixed opening position, and captures generally follow a rank hierarchy (general beats advisor, advisor beats elephant, and so on down to soldier, with soldiers able to capture the general) rather than the geometric movement rules of full xiangqi. It rewards fast tactical reading and calculated risk over long-range planning, which is part of why it is such a common casual and travelling variant.
Related questions
Do banqi pieces move the same way as in xiangqi?
Once revealed, movement is simplified rather than identical, and rules vary somewhat by region; most versions do not use the river or palace restrictions at all.
Is banqi considered a separate game from xiangqi?
It is usually described as a variant that reuses xiangqi's pieces and board rather than a fully independent game.
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