Mega Shogi!!

Something I saw on Twitter recently regarding Japanese chess or Shogi:

According to Wikipedia, the shogi variant was not widely played (understandably), but archeological evidence does exist. Unlike modern shogi which comprises of several pieces, this variant included a much larger variety of pieces, each with their own moves. The differences between, say, the Stone General and the Wood general are small and easily confusing, to say nothing of the other 209 types of pieces or so.

You can see real artifacts from Taikyoku Shogi at the Museum of Osaka here.

I feel like Taikyoku Shogi was probably someone’s idea of making shogi better by adding more stuff. A LOT MORE STUFF. Maybe regular shogi had become stale, maybe they wanted to make a more “climactic” battle, who knows? I guess we’ll never really find out, but I can imagine the creator playing maybe half a game with a buddy, and then giving up…