face-down pieces on the board. Once revealed, a piece may move, capture, or be captured. In some variants of Banqi, face-down pieces may also be captured. Moving a piece A player may only move face-up pieces of their own color. Unlike xiangqi, all pieces move identically: a piece may move only one square up, down, left, or right. A piece may never move onto a square that is already occupied unless such a move is a legal capture. Note that all pieces capture the same way that they move, except the cannon in Taiwanese rules. Capturing an opposing piece A player may only capture with a face-up piece of their own color, and may only capture a face-up piece of the opposing color. In all captures, the captured piece is removed from the board and its square is occupied by the capturing piece. The pieces are ranked, forming a hierarchy with the general at the top and soldiers at the bottom. Only pieces of equal or lower rank may be captured, with one exception. For instance, a chariot may capture a horse, and the general may capture either, but a horse cannot capture a chariot, and neither can capture the general. The one exception concerns generals and soldiers: the general cannot capture soldiers, and soldiers can capture the general. This reversal is reminiscent of Stratego. In the Hong Kong version, the pieces are ranked in this order: General>Chariot>Horse>Cannon>Advisor>Minister>Soldier. This ranking reflects the approximate value of the corresponding pieces in xiangqi (though the relative rank of horse and cannon is arguable). All pieces capture exactly as they move: one square up, down, left, or right. In the Taiwanese version, the ranking goes as follows: General>Advisor>Minister>Chariot>Horse>Soldier. This ranking is based on the initial board positions of the corresponding pieces in xiangqi, though the horse and chariot are inexplicably swapped. Except for the cannon, pieces capture with the same motion as for movement: one square up, down, left, or right. The cannon is not included in the ranking because it is exceptional: it captures in an unusual way, it can capture a piece of any rank, and yet is vulnerable to capture by any piece except the soldier. A cannon captures as in xiangqi: it moves any distance along a single row or column of the board, jumping over exactly one intermediate piece (called a screen). Any other squares between the cannon and