From: Pieter Stouten <stoutepf <at> CARBON <dot> DMPC <dot> COM>
Date: 31 jan 1996
Subject: Re: game analysis and annotation

At 11:14 96/01/31, Albyn Jones wrote:

>why do shogi
>pieces have five sides and look different when turned over?  it is the
>natural solution to the problem posed by the rules of the game: pieces
>can change sides, and pieces don't always promote to the equivalent of
>an unpromoted piece.
>
Interesting observation, but probably incorrect in an evolutionary sense.
People did not decide on the shape of the pieces in order to allow for
drops. The rules of the game crystallized later than the shape of the
pieces. Originally, Shogi was not played with drops, but with the
equivalent of a drunk elephant that could promote to a crown prince. Then
at some point somebody must have dropped a piece that he had captured.
People liked that, removed the drunk elephant, and the rest is history. So,
because Shogi was played with flat pieces of the same colour the game could
develop as it did.

Cheers, Pieter.

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Pieter Stouten                              ||  Nothing shocks me;
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