SHI-SHI-TOW: Tower of Guardian Lion

SHI-SHI-TOW is a two-player, perfect-information abstract 3D strategy game played on a 6x6 board. Each player places stones, forms lines and surrounding formations, stacks stones into towers, and moves a lion piece that always stands on that player's tallest tower. Players create towers through two core patterns: REN, formed by aligning four stones, and JIN, formed by surrounding spaces with stones. As stones stack, the board changes from a flat grid into a rising arena, and each lion climbs to the highest tower its player controls. The goal is not to capture the opposing lion, but to build higher. The player whose lion stands on the higher tower wins. The theme draws on guardian lions found across cultures, including komainu in Japan, shisa in Okinawa, and stone lions in China. In SHI-SHI-TOW, these guardians enter a path of training, raising towers and climbing toward a higher peak. —description from the designer