Tai Shogi has the notoriety of being the largest known historic chess variant in the world. This game was probably invented before the end of the sixteenth century. Tai Shogi has been invented by some recreational megalomaniac and for good reason. This huge game is played on a twenty-five by twenty-five board and each player has a grand total of one hundred seventy-seven pieces. Counting promotion values, one hundred and one different values exist in this game.
Objective
The game is played on a 25x25 square board, and each player manipulates 177 pieces. The pieces in Tai Shogi are flat and wedge shaped, with a uniform colour and the names printed in Japanese (the promoted value written in a different colour on the opposite side). Pieces point forward to indicate the ownership. To avoid confusion, one side is known as "white" and the other as "black". Pieces are made of wood.
The game is played like most other chess-like games, with the players making alternate moves. Some pieces can move twice, such as the Lion and Furious Fiend, but most can only make a single move.
Objective
The game is played on a 25x25 square board, and each player manipulates 177 pieces. The pieces in Tai Shogi are flat and wedge shaped, with a uniform colour and the names printed in Japanese (the promoted value written in a different colour on the opposite side). Pieces point forward to indicate the ownership. To avoid confusion, one side is known as "white" and the other as "black". Pieces are made of wood.
The game is played like most other chess-like games, with the players making alternate moves. Some pieces can move twice, such as the Lion and Furious Fiend, but most can only make a single move.
The object of the game is to capture both the opposing Emperor AND the Crown Prince. Both pieces must be captured to win. Also, if a player has promoted his Drunk Elephant to another Crown Prince, that must also be taken.
One game may be played over several long sessions and require each player to make over a thousand moves.
The game is played without drops, and uses a promotion-by-capture rule.
The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's emperor and crown prince (or princes). When the last of these is captured, the game ends. There are no rules for check or checkmate; however, in practice a player resigns when checkmated.
Game equipment
Two players, Black and White, play on a board ruled into a grid of 25 ranks (rows) and 25 files (columns), for a total of 625 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color.
Each player has a set of 177 wedge-shaped pieces of 93 types. In all, the players must remember 99 moves for these pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes.
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Pieces & Movements
