- BGG rank
- BGG #2,963
- BGG rating
- 7.0
Fossilis
- 2–5 players
- 45–60 min
- Complexity 2.3/5
- 2020
- BGG rank
- BGG #4,378
- BGG rating
- 7.2
Arimaa
2002
Rules assistance for Arimaa
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2 players
- 60 min
- 10+
- Complexity 3.2/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Arimaa
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Arimaa is a board game released in 2002 for 2 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Aamir Syed and Omar Syed and its main mechanics are Square Grid, Grid Movement, and Slide / Push.
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About the game
Arimaa, pronounced "a-ree-muh," is a game where stronger animals like elephants and camels freeze, push, and pull the weaker ones from the opposing team around and into traps, while one of the rabbits tries to sneak across the board and harmlessly reach the other side. The first player to get one of their rabbits to the other side wins. This may sound like a simple kids' game, and while it is easy enough for your kids to learn and enjoy, you will find that it is also a very deep game that can take a lifetime to master. Arimaa is one of the deepest strategy games ever invented in the history of mankind, but designed to look intuitively simple. No two games of Arimaa are ever the same. There is much to learn and discover about this intuitively simple, yet intellectually challenging, game. Played on an 8x8 grid with four trap squares and 32 animal pieces (16 gold and 16 silver). Each player has an elephant, a camel, 2 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 8 rabbits. Strength hierarchy: Elephant > Camel > Horse > Dog > Cat > Rabbit. The game begins with an empty board. Gold places the sixteen gold pieces first in any configuration on the first and second ranks. Silver then places the sixteen silver pieces in any configuration on seventh and eighth ranks. Then gold moves its pieces first. A player can move up to four "steps" each turn. All pieces move orthogonally (at right angles). Arimaa was invented by Omar Syed, an Indian-American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence. Syed was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat at the hands of the chess computer Deep Blue to design a new game that could be played with a standard chess set, would be difficult for computers to play well, but would have rules simple enough for his then four-year-old son Aamir to understand. (Arimaa is Aamir spelled backwards plus an initial "a"). In 2002, Syed published the rules to Arimaa and announced a $10,000 prize, available annually until 2020, for the first computer program (running on standard, off-the-shelf hardware) able to defeat each of three top-ranked human players in a three-game series.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- (Self-Published)
- Z-Man Games
Questions and answers
Arimaa supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The listed playing time for Arimaa is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Arimaa for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Arimaa has a complexity rating of 3.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Arimaa belongs to these categories: Animals and Abstract Strategy. Its main mechanics are Square Grid, Grid Movement, and Slide / Push. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Arimaa are: Aamir Syed and Omar Syed. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Arimaa as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.