Philosophy shogi checkers
Board and pieces (Toyo University)
Years activearound 1890
GenresBoard game
Players2
Setup time< 60 seconds
ChanceNone
Age range5+
SkillsTactics, Strategy

Philosophy shogi checkers (哲学飛将碁[1]) is a board game similar to English draughts, invented by Inoue Enryō, Japanese philosopher, and described by his student[2] in 1890. It has same board size with shogi and game ends with capturing the opponent's king, similar to shogi and Persian chess.

Game play

Rules of the game are almost similar to English draughts. Differences from English draughts are explained here.

  • Board - Size of the board is 9x9 with alternative dark and light squares,[3] corner squares having dark colors. Pieces move in dark squares only.
  • Pieces - Each player has 14 pieces; one of them is king.[4]
  • Starting position - At the starting position the pieces are placed at the dark squares of the first 3 rows closest to the players. King is placed at the center of the row closest to the player.
  • How to move - Move and jump are similar to English draughts. Move and jump of the king are similar to king (crowned piece) of English draughts.
  • Princes - If a player's piece moves into the first row on the opposing side of the board, the piece promotes to a "prince[5]". Move and jump of prince are similar to king. To distinguish it from king at the starting position, it is called prince.
  • How the game ends - A player wins by capturing opponent's king.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Board and pieces are displayed at Inoue Enryo Memoriam Museum at Hakusan campus of Toyo University (December 21, 2011).
  2. ↑ Maruyama (1890)
  3. ↑ Originally the dark squares are marked X and have same square colors.
  4. ↑ Pieces with black characters are named Materialism (唯物), and pieces with white characters are named Spiritualism (唯心). King is named ideal (理想), and has larger size than other pieces. Philosophy terms are used for education purpose. This is why this game has philosophy in its name.
  5. ↑ Prince is written as 理, first character of 理想 (ideal). It is written at the back of the piece. A piece is promoted by turning the piece over.

References

  • Maruyama, F (1890). Rulebook of philosophy shogi checkers (哲学飛将碁指南). Tetsugaku Shoin (哲学書院). Archived from the original on December 19, 2012.
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