From: Hugh Denoncourt <hd <at> HOPPER <dot> UNH <dot> EDU>
Date: 31 jan 1996
Subject: Re: game analysis and annotation

> the question of traditional shogi pieces versus "staunton" style chess
> pieces seems to me to also depend on pragmatic issues.  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.  think for 30sec. about the staunton style set that
> would be usable in shogi...
This is an interesting thread.  When I read the conspiracy theory
comments (that everyone opposes non-traditional pieces because they don't
want Shogi to become popular outside of Japan) I laughed, figuring it was a
joke and not a serious comment.  I've made the same joke myself knowing
that it really isn't true at all.  The basis of finding humor in what
many would find offending is that I find Shogi so great that I can't
believe it isn't popular in the West, so therefore, there MUST be a
conspiracy(all conspiracy theories have such silly logic) keeping Shogi
unpopular in the West.  The truth is that when westerners think of
complex strategy games, they think of their familiar western chess.  Many
people learned the game from their parents.  There are people who play it
in cafes, at parties, in parks, etc... So, I think the real reason why
Shogi isn't as popular here is that it isn't as visible over here.  Sets
aren't sold in toy stores like Western Chess sets are and so forth.  That
might change, it might not.  I'd like to see Shogi get popular but
nothing drastic really has to happen.  When people play Shogi in public
it draws attention because Shogi is foreign and different and traditional
Shogi boards can arouse curiosity in people here.  Chess clubs are also
good places to spread the popularity of the game we love(Shogi).  So, a
change in pieces is not necessary.  I have to admit, that I learned on a
board with English letters and directions.  Its an ugly board, and it
looks like some made-up game with no tradition, but it was easy to learn
on and made learning to use the traditional pieces easier.  I don't
really think its that hard, but judging by several reactions in my local
strategic mindgames club, people perceive that it WOULD be hard to learn.

As far as the pragmatics of "staunton" style Shogi pieces, I will argue
(for the sake of arguing) with you here.  Obviously you can play shogi or
chess with ANYTHING (I played chess with coins and bottlecaps once...
I played Tori Shogi with chess pieces....) ...
And "staunton" style pieces are not exception to this rule.  I have two
"staunton" ideas that easily work.  One is to create pieces, in which you
can easily tell front and back sides of the piece.  This is important for
direction.  The pieces would be of the same color.  On each piece there
would be an area on which you could attach some kind of flag or extra part
to indicate promotion (it could be a lego's type attachment, or a peg, or
whatever)... Another would be to simply have separate pieces for
promoted and unpromoted pieces.  When you promote, you simply replace your
piece by the promoted version of the piece.  I like the first idea better
because it requires fewer pieces.

Its not worth arguing whether Shogi pieces should be "westernized" or
should retain their heritage because a mailing list on the Internet is
not likely to influence the decisions a company that manufactures board
games makes.  It is the company who decides to try to sell Shogi boards
that makes the decisions and so far the decision has been (with some
exceptions) to import boards from Japan and sell them as they are.
Or , if someone makes a client program for ISS for Windows or whatever,
then it is the programmer's decision as to what representation will be used.
I would hope that the person would include as many options as possible
because options can't hurt, but again, that would be the decision of the
programmer.
Just my thoughts,
Hugh