Shogi is commonly descripbed as Japanese Chess. The object of Shogi, similar to chess, is to capture your opponent's king. Two players take turns, moving one piece each turn. Some pieces have the same movement as their western chess equivalents, while others move differently. For example, there is no queen in shogi; instead, there are two pieces called the gold and silver generals. One interesting twist is that a player may promote a piece when it reaches the back three rows of their opponent's board. Promoted pieces gain new movement and the promotion lasts until the piece is captured or the game ends.
Unlike western chess, opposing armies are not indicated by different colors, but by their orientation on the board. Each player's pieces will point towards their opponent.
What really makes shogi unique is that on a player's turn, instead of moving a piece that's already on the board, that player can place one of the pieces they've captured from their opponent back into play at any valid location to use as their own piece.
The music and beautiful graphics provide an enjoyable setting in which to compete against friends.
Shogi Showdown is the first and only free shogi app that's available in English.
Shogi Showdown provides the player with an easy method of viewing the rules of the game while playing. The player can do so by clicking the 'Rules' button on the game screen, which then becomes the 'Captured' button and replaces the area below it to display the rules. To switch that area back to displaying the turn player's captured pieces, all they must do is hit the button again.
The music in this video is not a product of TED Industries.
