From: Ralf Lundberg CS CHALMERS SE> Date: 18 oct 1999 Subject: Re: playing Shogi on a Palm Pilot Fabien Osmont wrote: > A few days ago, someone asked about a shogi software for Palm Pilot. I asked such a thing, some months ago. > I found one today on palmgear. > Here's the URL : http://www.valley.ne.jp/~takemae/ > It's a shareware and it costs only 10$. > I don't know the level of this game but I think that it's cheap. > Does anyone has yet tested it ? Now I have! (I subscribe at Shogi-L at one site, has my cradle at another, hence the delay..) The unregistered version, that is what I have tried so far, stops after 40 moves in each game. The platform I have used it on is a Palm V. The graphics is a bit indistinct, but kanji is not easy to do on 13x13 size bitmaps.. The program has 7 levels, but neither is very strong. On level 1 it takes about 5 seconds a move, on level 7 it takes about a minute. At level 2 it once started to move one piece to and fro while I developed. At level 7 it makes sensible consistent moves. However I still get a definite advantage before the 40 moves, despite the fact that I am only mid-kyu in strength. Even at higher levels there is a horizon-effect; it sometimes makes repeted small sacrifices in vane hope to escape some threat. So I guess it is most useful for beginners. Palms are nice, but not a high performance platform, so I guess one should not be to disapointed.. Allowing handicap play might increase the usefulness of the program. I also has a chess program on on the same machine, PocketChess. My impression is that that makes much more resistance, even at the easiest levels. But of course chess may be a simpler game.. :-) *** What I really think would be more appropriate on a handheld is a software shogiboard, to use for recording gamescores, and playing through games. A program that plays definitly benefits from the magnitude of extra computing power on heavier platforms, like PCs. But having a software shogibord in my hand when reading for instance 'The Art of Shogi' would be a great improvement, especially if it could handle branches. *** > Cheers > Fabien Thanks for the hint! -- ___________________________________________________________________ Ralf Lundberg http://www.cd.chalmers.se/~ralf/index.html ralf carmenta se (email home: cs chalmers se)