From: Jochum Drechsler WEB DE> Date: 1 nov 2001 Subject: Shogi activities in Germany --------------BCB8FC6B056E8F5E4F49B881 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Dear All, some days ago (from 18th the till the 21st) the Games Fair took place in Essen. It was a great success. They got a new record of visitors with more than 140000. It was a great success for shogi also. With regard to shogi the Games Fair started with an interview at the local radio station (WDR) on Thursday morning at about the same time when the fair opened. The interview was not even long enough to explain all the rules of shogi, but it was good enough to attract some people as I found out later. Besides an table with shogi stuff to offer, we had put up four boards for the visitors to learn and try shogi. There was hardly any time when our chairs were empty. We tryed out a new concept for the explanation of the rules. Two of our sets of pieces were coloured. Thus allowing easier identification of the pieces for newcomers. The sheets giving an overview of the piece movement were coloured in the same manner. The visitors appreciated that very much. This way they were not so affraid of the pieces. But they also found that they do not need the colour code any more after two or three games (if they played them). And yes, to our surprise there where many people that occupied our boards for one or two hours. And some of them came back the other day. One of them even came every single day to have a game or two. Of course some people did not stay very long or just went by wondering about the fact that there is a Japanese chess called shogi. But we do not think that less important. Because those people now at least know that shogi exists. Not all people that sit down to learn shogi were German. We had visitors (of those we identified) from Japan, the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden. During the four days we were also running an easy shogi quiz. The main idea behind that was to make it harder for the people to forget about shogi. A list of the winners can be found at our web site (www.shogi.de). The participants of the quiz had the possibility to tick a box saying that they wanted more information about shogi activities. This way we could collect over 30 addresses (e-mail and postal). All in all this event was very successfull for the popularisation of shogi. Our financial status does not allow us to repeat it in the near future. But maybe with the help of NSR or other support we can do it again in a few years. Many people were involved in the whole process of this event. Thank you very much to all that made it possible!! But there was even more promotion for shogi going on. In Munich Günther Mensching was promoting shogi at the night of the museums. At one museum they were presenting different games from Asian countries. Günther told me that it was very successfull. He is organizing a regular shogi meeting in Munich to attract those newcomers (and our "old" shogi players from Munich). At the 10th of November we will again be present at the "Münchner Spielwies´n". At this event that runs over two days people can borrow games like books in a library and play them with friends. It is very impressive to see that huge hall filled with people playing all kinds of games. The shogi players of Munich will give them the possibility to play shogi. I hope this report is motivation for some to undertake similar activites! All the best for you and for Shogi, Jochen. Dear All, some days ago (from 18th the till the 21st) the Games Fair took place in Essen. It was a great success. They got a new record of visitors with more than 140000. It was a great success for shogi also. With regard to shogi the Games Fair started with an interview at the local radio station (WDR) on Thursday morning at about the same time when the fair opened. The interview was not even long enough to explain all the rules of shogi, but it was good enough to attract some people as I found out later. Besides an table with shogi stuff to offer, we had put up four boards for the visitors to learn and try shogi. There was hardly any time when our chairs were empty. We tryed out a new concept for the explanation of the rules. Two of our sets of pieces were coloured. Thus allowing easier identification of the pieces for newcomers. The sheets giving an overview of the piece movement were coloured in the same manner. The visitors appreciated that very much. This way they were not so affraid of the pieces. But they also found that they do not need the colour code any more after two or three games (if they played them). And yes, to our surprise there where many people that occupied our boards for one or two hours. And some of them came back the other day. One of them even came every single day to have a game or two. Of course some people did not stay very long or just went by wondering about the fact that there is a Japanese chess called shogi. But we do not think that less important. Because those people now at least know that shogi exists. Not all people that sit down to learn shogi were German. We had visitors (of those we identified) from Japan, the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden. During the four days we were also running an easy shogi quiz. The main idea behind that was to make it harder for the people to forget about shogi. A list of the winners can be found at our web site (www.shogi.de). The participants of the quiz had the possibility to tick a box saying that they wanted more information about shogi activities. This way we could collect over 30 addresses (e-mail and postal). All in all this event was very successfull for the popularisation of shogi. Our financial status does not allow us to repeat it in the near future. But maybe with the help of NSR or other support we can do it again in a few years. Many people were involved in the whole process of this event. Thank you very much to all that made it possible!! But there was even more promotion for shogi going on. In Munich Günther Mensching was promoting shogi at the night of the museums. At one museum they were presenting different games from Asian countries. Günther told me that it was very successfull. He is organizing a regular shogi meeting in Munich to attract those newcomers (and our "old" shogi players from Munich). At the 10th of November we will again be present at the "Münchner Spielwies´n". At this event that runs over two days people can borrow games like books in a library and play them with friends. It is very impressive to see that huge hall filled with people playing all kinds of games. The shogi players of Munich will give them the possibility to play shogi. I hope this report is motivation for some to undertake similar activites! All the best for you and for Shogi, Jochen. --------------BCB8FC6B056E8F5E4F49B881 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear All,

some days ago (from 18th the till the 21st) the Games Fair took place in
Essen. It was a great success. They got a new record of visitors with
more than 140000. It was a great success for shogi also.
With regard to shogi the Games Fair started with an interview at the
local radio station (WDR) on Thursday morning at about the same time
when the fair opened. The interview was not even long enough to explain
all the rules of shogi, but it was good enough to attract some people as
I found out later.
Besides an table with shogi stuff to offer, we had put up four boards
for the visitors to learn and try shogi. There was hardly any time when
our chairs were empty. We tryed out a new concept for the explanation of
the rules. Two of our sets of pieces were coloured. Thus allowing easier
identification of the pieces for newcomers. The sheets giving an
overview of the piece movement were coloured in the same manner. The
visitors appreciated that very much. This way they were not so affraid
of the pieces. But they also found that they do not need the colour code
any more after two or three games (if they played them).
And yes, to our surprise there where many people that occupied our
boards for one or two hours. And some of them came back the other day.
One of them even came every single day to have a game or two. Of course
some people did not stay very long or just went by wondering about the
fact that there is a Japanese chess called shogi. But we do not think
that less important. Because those people now at least know that shogi
exists.
Not all people that sit down to learn shogi were German. We had visitors
(of those we identified) from Japan, the Netherlands, Britain and
Sweden.
During the four days we were also running an easy shogi quiz. The main
idea behind that was to make it harder for the people to forget about
shogi. A list of the winners can be found at our web site
(www.shogi.de). The participants of the quiz had the possibility to tick
a box saying that they wanted more information about shogi activities.
This way we could collect over 30 addresses (e-mail and postal).
All in all this event was very successfull for the popularisation of
shogi. Our financial status does not allow us to repeat it in the near
future. But maybe with the help of NSR or other support we can do it
again in a few years.
Many people were involved in the whole process of this event. Thank you
very much to all that made it possible!!

But there was even more promotion for shogi going on. In Munich Günther
Mensching was promoting shogi at the night of the museums. At one museum
they were presenting different games from Asian countries. Günther told
me that it was very successfull. He is organizing a regular shogi
meeting in Munich to attract those newcomers (and our "old" shogi
players from Munich).

At the 10th of November we will again be present at the "Münchner
Spielwies´n". At this event that runs over two days people can borrow
games like books in a library and play them with friends. It is very
impressive to see that huge hall filled with people playing all kinds of
games. The shogi players of Munich will give them the possibility to
play shogi.

I hope this report is motivation for some to undertake similar
activites!

All the best for you and for Shogi, Jochen.
 

Dear All,

some days ago (from 18th the till the 21st) the Games Fair took place in
Essen. It was a great success. They got a new record of visitors with
more than 140000. It was a great success for shogi also.
With regard to shogi the Games Fair started with an interview at the
local radio station (WDR) on Thursday morning at about the same time
when the fair opened. The interview was not even long enough to explain
all the rules of shogi, but it was good enough to attract some people as
I found out later.
Besides an table with shogi stuff to offer, we had put up four boards
for the visitors to learn and try shogi. There was hardly any time when
our chairs were empty. We tryed out a new concept for the explanation of
the rules. Two of our sets of pieces were coloured. Thus allowing easier
identification of the pieces for newcomers. The sheets giving an
overview of the piece movement were coloured in the same manner. The
visitors appreciated that very much. This way they were not so affraid
of the pieces. But they also found that they do not need the colour code
any more after two or three games (if they played them).
And yes, to our surprise there where many people that occupied our
boards for one or two hours. And some of them came back the other day.
One of them even came every single day to have a game or two. Of course
some people did not stay very long or just went by wondering about the
fact that there is a Japanese chess called shogi. But we do not think
that less important. Because those people now at least know that shogi
exists.
Not all people that sit down to learn shogi were German. We had visitors
(of those we identified) from Japan, the Netherlands, Britain and
Sweden.
During the four days we were also running an easy shogi quiz. The main
idea behind that was to make it harder for the people to forget about
shogi. A list of the winners can be found at our web site
(www.shogi.de). The participants of the quiz had the possibility to tick
a box saying that they wanted more information about shogi activities.
This way we could collect over 30 addresses (e-mail and postal).
All in all this event was very successfull for the popularisation of
shogi. Our financial status does not allow us to repeat it in the near
future. But maybe with the help of NSR or other support we can do it
again in a few years.
Many people were involved in the whole process of this event.
Thank you very much to all that made it possible!!

But there was even more promotion for shogi going on. In Munich Günther
Mensching was promoting shogi at the night of the museums. At one museum
they were presenting different games from Asian countries. Günther told
me that it was very successfull. He is organizing a regular shogi
meeting in Munich to attract those newcomers (and our "old" shogi
players from Munich).

At the 10th of November we will again be present at the "Münchner
Spielwies´n". At this event that runs over two days people can borrow
games like books in a library and play them with friends. It is very
impressive to see that huge hall filled with people playing all kinds of
games. The shogi players of Munich will give them the possibility to
play shogi.

I hope this report is motivation for some to undertake similar
activites!

All the best for you and for Shogi, Jochen.
 
 
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