Based on the image above, you can see shogi is played in some anime series. So far all I know is Naruto and Champloo. This post is another one of my favorites that I’d give a 10/10. Putting a game into words can be just as fun as playing it your self, so I hope you’ll take the time to understand this game like I have.
I’d like to introduce this old game, mainly because I learned to play recently. Shogi, also know as japanes chess is a board game. Just because you know how to play chess doesn’t mean you now how to play shogi. I’ve won my fair share of chess games and wanted to play something more challenging. Shogi provided me with that challenge and it became one of those games you put on that list you plan on one day beating. It didn’t take long for me to learn what each piece did considering I knew how to play chess, but there where a few rules I needed to learn as well. What makes this game harder than chess is the variety of pieces, the number of spaces, promotions (similar to crowning in checkers), and the fact that you get to use your opponent’s pieces after you capture it (also know as dropping pieces into play).
Modern shogi is approximately as old as modern western chess (what we call chess), about 500 years old. The game is probably derived primarily from Chinese chess, xiangqi, but also has interesting similarities to Thai chess, makruk. I was introduced to shogi from playing Club House Games on my DS lite. I started looking up shogi on the internet and found the two sites you see at the bottom. I looked up the similar games as well, but wasn’t up to challanging them just yet. I still have to master shogi. Unlike shogi, I learned chess at my elementary school. The lessons came with a good number of strategies. As for shogi, I had to learn to play on my own. So far, I’ve beaten the CPU on my DS twice. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to beat it again. I just haven’t beem able to remember the same strategy I used to win.
In chess, it’s elegal to put your king into check. In shogi, the second you move a peice that’s blocking your king from your opponent, it’s checkmate or “tsumi” in Japanese. ”Oute” is Japanese for check and “naru” for promoting. You have the choice to promote but then again, who wouldn’t. When playing on a digital device, you don’t need to use these terms as well as the fact that your in American. I’m telling you because this information was given to me on Club House Games and not the site. Who knows, maybe it’ll be fun to use a foreign language.
Impasse, or “jishogi” is used in both games but have different meanings. In American, it’s when one of each players middle pawns is in the center of the board and is able to take the other pawn simple by passing it…not that anyone would ever get the chance to use it. In Japanes, impasse occurs when each player’s king has entered the opposing player’s base. At this point the game ends, and the winner is decided based on the point value of each players pieces (similar to counting your cards at the end of a card game). Indeed, this information isn’t included in the site below so I’m taking it straight from Club House Games. I’ll give the points later of each piece depending on if anyone becomes that good at playing. I, myself, have never gotten to that point. My DS version of the rules also introduces handicaps, but you can’t seti it up on the site given. Good luck learning how to play and have fun!
(I’ve add more info below for those how are interested in nowing how I won my most recent wins)
2-17-10 It turned out to be a long game because of my little mistakes, but I managed to correct them in the end. To tell you the truth, it felt like I only made one mistake that was nere the end. When playing agains a CPU, you only have room for one mistake. I was able to take my opponents piece with a choice of two of mine. I didn’t take the time to think about it and chose the wrong one. Just because you get close to winning, doesn’t mean it’s in the bag. It’s still possible to make mistakes. In my case, if I didn’t keep attacking the CPU’s king, my king would be attacked the second I stopped. They CPU had one last piece they were able to drop on the board if given the chance. Thanks to the few moves I had to make and the number of pieces I took at the start, I was able to win. (Keep in mind, there are a total of 40 pieces in this game and chess has 32) When it came to pieces on the board, I had 6 and the CPU had 11. Once I got as low as 3 piece, I decided to put the pieces I captured to good use. When it came to pieces captured, I had 22 and the CPU had 1 near the end as I mentioned before. (6+11+22+1=40) Just because you have few pieces on the board, doesn’t mean you can’t win with the pieces you captured. You need to know when to use them and where to put them. In other words, the second your opponent stops attack, you begin your attack. You start to relize this near the end. This is my third win, but not in a row. That will be my next goal, but you should consider how many times I had to play to get where I am. I can’t imagine some one win there first game just from nowing how to play chess unless your opponent was a beginner themselves. When I look at this paragraph, I think you can apply this to real life. Makes you wonder, what other board games can you apply to real life?