‘SHOGI — THE NEXT GENERATION’ — Paul Glover ©1996, 1997

SHOGI — THE NEXT GENERATION of play­ers, as well as long time play­ers, will find them­selves mov­ing into the future with this excit­ing tra­di­tional game. The game relies
on all of the instruc­tions for Shogi. How­ever, because of the dimen­sional fac­tor, there is a need for addi­tional instruc­tions as to how the pieces move. It takes the same amount of time and the same num­ber of moves as reg­u­lar Shogi. (Here’s a 2D game of Shogi down­load).

The top and bot­tom boards each have 81 squares for a total of 162 squares.  As with other 3D games, the Pieces are set up in this way: one player on the top board labelled “A” and the other player on the bot­tom board labelled “B” in their tra­di­tional man­ner. When you record a game as the game is being played out (Shogi nota­tion), the board level (“A” or “B”) is writ­ten in front of the square named. Both boards have a pro­mo­tion line. A pre­vi­ously cap­tured piece may be dropped onto any vacant square on either level, and this con­sti­tutes one move. In the sec­ond game, each player switches board levels.

THE GAME PIECES all move and cap­ture in their usual man­ner on any one board level as in reg­u­lar Shogi. The move­ment from one board level to another or a dimen­sional move, (either to a vacant square, or to cap­ture an oppo­nents piece) is as fol­lows
(see also the diagrams):

All pieces, except the Knight and Bishop, can move to or cap­ture directly below or above the square on which it is sit­ting. For the rest of the pieces, mov­ing your piece directly Up or Down does NOT con­sti­tute a back­ward movement.

K — KING: — (If, for exam­ple, it was on level “A”, sec­ond row) can move one square away from the square on which it is sit­ting. There­fore, the nine squares below it three in front, one directly below it, one on each side of it, and three behind it, are the squares it can move to.

R — ROOK: — (If on “A” level) can move to the square directly below it. When
it crosses the far side pro­mo­tion line on ether level, it pro­motes. It gains the abil­ity
to move eight more squares for a total of nine squares, same as the Ring.

B — BISHOP: — Can move to the two squares diag­o­nally for­ward or the two squares
diag­o­nally to the rear (a total of four squares). Upon pro­mo­tion, it can now move a
total of eight squares. Three squares for­ward, one square right or left of it, and three
squares in the rear.

G — GOLD GENERAL: — Can move one square away from itself in any direc­tion except the two diag­o­nal squares to the rear (a total of seven squares).

S — SILVER GENERAL: — Can move to the three squares directly in front, one below, and the two diag­o­nal squares to the rear (a total of six squares). Pro­motes as a Gold General.

N — KNIGHT: — (If on “A” level) in one move goes for­ward two squares and drops
directly below the sec­ond square. There­fore mov­ing like the shape of an “L” dimen­sion­ally. It jumps over any piece in its way and lands on the vacant square or cap­tur­ing the oppo­nent piece on that square. From it’s orig­i­nal posi­tion, (on “A” level) mov­ing two squares for­ward, it would land on the square beneath the pawn on the third row. Pro­motes as a Gold General.

L — LANCE: — Can move/capture the square directly below it or directly in front
of it (a total of two squares). It can­not retreat. Pro­motes as a Gold General.

P — PAWN: — Same as Lance.

The dia­gram below demon­strates if a piece was on the top board level, although the piece could also be on the bot­tom board level.

Because of the Dimen­sional fac­tor,
BEWARE OF THE UNEXPECTED.
It’s Not The Same Game!