Battle Mice

Battle Mice is a near-perfect information card game for two players. The deck consists of three identical sets of mice numbered 1–8. Each player receives one deck, then the last "neutral" deck is shuffled, two of those cards are put aside, and the rest dealt three to each player. Each player then places his first eight mice in a 3x3 grid with the middle square left empty. The neutral mice are kept as a hand of cards. On a player's turn, he can move one mouse one step. A mouse that moves into the middle empty square has escaped, and the opponent's mouse with the same number is defeated (turned over). Each mouse has a special ability that affects only the two adjacent mice; for example, the fighter mouse protects the adjacent mice from being defeated, the nurse mouse heals a defeated mouse, the speed mouse allows adjacent mice to move twice, and so on. Each time a mouse exits, the active player can place a neutral mouse from his hand on one of the corner squares, if available. At the end of the game, players receive one point per escaped mouse, but some of the mice give an extra bonus depending on the order in which they escaped. This order is determined by the two neutral mice set aside at the start of the game.