Mini-shogi is a well known variant of Shogi (Japanese Chess).

To win you have to checkmate the king of your opponent.

Board

The board is a 5x5

Pieces

for each team:

• 1 King
• 1 Gold general
• 1 Silver general
• 1 Bishop
• 1 Rook
• 1 Pawn

Initial setup

We made a western set of pieces for players who might not be familiar with the traditional japanese version.

Pieces actions and properties

Gold general: moves and captures to adjacent squares in any orthogonal or the forward diagonal direction.

Silver general: moves and captures to adjacent squares in any diagonal or the forward orthogonal direction.

Pawn : The Pawn: moves and captures to the square directly in front of it.

Rook : as in chess.

Bishop : as in chess.

King : as in chess.

Promotion

• Silver general and pawn promote to gold general
• Rook and bishop gain king move with promotion

Drops

Captured pieces become prisoners and lose their promotion, guarded on your right. You can use your turn to put them back into play. A player can either move one of his pieces or drop a prisoner back into play on his behalf.

A pawn can't make an immediate checkmate when dropped. It is allowed for other pieces.

A piece can't be dropped is no subsequent move is possible, so a pawn cannot be dropped on the last line.