madd0ct0r wrote:
Shogi looks intresting.
Dai Shogi looks terrifying (65 pieces each with 36 different moves)
For a faction based game the 'drop' rule would be harder to justify but it's a very intresting mechanic.
There are a number of Shogi variants ranging from Tori (bird) Shogi, through Make and Dai to Dai Dai. They are played on different sized boards from 7x7 (Tori) to 25x25 (Dai Dai). Apart from the board sizes, the main differences are the use of different pieces and captured pieces remain off the board.
Shogi is actually better documented than western chess as it was a court preoccupation from the Edo period onwards. Though far less usual, games of Dai Dai Shogi are recorded, but at 525 pieces each side they do take a lot longer than normal Shogi
Finally, Shogi does have a very good handicap system that is normally used between players of different rankings, and a timed move system called 'boyomi' where a player has 30 sec per move after he has used up his normal time. Each year, the winner of the professional tournament plays the amateur winner, by tradition giving away a Bishop handicap. The players each have 4 hours normal time, and games of 16 hours are not unusual
(by tradition, the professional always wins)
