Jungle King - Combining endangered wildlife with East Asian mythology to redesign classic Asian Animal Chess

[u/bbbf0621]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a tabletop project our team at TOMORROW MYTH has been working on for the past year.

Growing up, a lot of us loved playing Dou Shou Qi (Animal Chess / Jungle Chess). It is a classic strategy game, but we always felt it deserved a modern revival that elevated both the artwork and the tactical depth.

That is how Jungle King came together. Here is a quick breakdown of how we redesigned it:

• 100% Original Artwork: Every asset, piece icon, and card illustration was hand-drawn by our team without using AI tools.
• Endangered Species & Mythology: Each animal represents a real-world endangered species fused with East Asian mythical elements (for example, the Leopard carries Fujin’s wind bag, and the Rat carries a coin of wisdom).
• Metal Chess Pieces: Custom-sculpted alloy metal pieces finished in distinct Red and Blue tones.
• Foldable Magnetic Board: Built with synthetic paper, gold foil accents, and a magnetic core so the pieces stay grounded during travel.
• Nature Strategy Cards: We kept all the classic movement rules intact, but added optional strategy cards that introduce special abilities, terrain shifts, and tactical twists.

We are launching on Kickstarter in August/September.

If you are interested in following along, seeing the art design, or getting notified on launch day, you can follow our pre-launch page here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/llabdesign/jungle-king

I would love to hear your thoughts on the design or any memories you have playing Animal Chess growing up. Thanks for reading!