Shogi
Minishogi
The same game on a five-by-five board, with six men a side and a promotion zone one rank deep.
What is different here
Minishogi keeps every rule that makes shogi shogi — the hand, the drops, nifu, uchifuzume — and throws away the knights, the lances, seven of the pawns and most of the board.
The result is not a simplified game. It is a sharper one. With six men a side and drops, the position is in contact from about the fourth move, and a single mistake is usually the whole game.
Sente moves first, as in the even game on the big board. Nothing is removed as a handicap.
- Five files by five ranks; six men a side.
- King, rook, bishop, gold, silver and one pawn each.
- The promotion zone is the far rank alone.
- Drops, nifu and uchifuzume work exactly as in the full game.
- Sennichite is decided on the fourth repetition.