/usr/share/games/shogivar/Micro.rul is in shogivar-data 1.55b-1.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 | " INTRODUCTION
==============
Micro-Shogi (also known as Poppy Shogi) is a recent variant which has been
attributed to the Shogi master Oyama Yasuharu.
Although Micro-Shogi is played on a board of only 20 squares(!), it is
certainly not a trivial game, and may even lay claim to being the world's
smallest playable chess variant.
The excitement in Micro-Shogi comes from the fact that all pieces (except
the King) are reversed automatically every time they make a capture
(effectively being alternately promoted and then demoted again with each
successive capture).
THE GAME
=========
Micro-Shogi is played on a board of 4 x 5 squares and each player has 5
pieces (including a single pawn).
The pieces are flat and wedge-shaped and are not distinguished by colour.
Although the pieces are of uniform colour the first player is still
conventionally referred to as 'Black' and the second player as 'White'.
Ownership of the pieces is indicated by the direction in which they face,
with a player's pieces always pointing towards the opponent.
The players make alternate moves, with the object being to capture the
opposing 'King'.
As in Western Chess, when a 'King' is about to be captured next move and
no legal move can be made to prevent the capture, the piece is said to be
'Checkmated'.
On each turn a player can either:
a) move one piece according to its power of movement to a vacant square
on the board, or to a square occupied by an enemy piece (in which
case the enemy piece is captured and removed);
or,
b) 'Drop' (re-enter) a previously captured piece on any vacant square.
THE PIECES
===========
The Piece Help screen provides the names, notation symbols, promotion
details, and powers of movement for all of the pieces in the game.
[The Piece Help screen can be reached by clicking on the 'Pieces' button]
PROMOTION
==========
Promotion in Micro-Shogi is unlike that in any other Shogi variant. All
pieces except the King have different ranks on each side and a piece is
automatically flipped over to reveal it's alternate rank EVERY time it
makes a capture.
The pieces are as follows:
King
Pawn / Knight
Gold / Rook
Silver / Lance
Bishop / Tokin (moves as Gold)
Thus, a Pawn on making a capture would become a Knight, and on making a
further capture as a Knight would revert to being a Pawn again.
CAPTURES
=========
A captured piece is removed from the board and is held by the capturing
player. The held piece (which is said to be 'in hand') may subsequently be
'dropped' back into play on the side of the player who made the capture.
A piece in hand may be dropped as either of it's two ranks when being
re-entered into play (ie: a captured Pawn may be re-entered as a Pawn or as
a Knight).
DROPS
======
Unlike in other variants a piece in hand may be re-entered onto ANY vacant
square. There are therefore no restrictions on entering a piece on a square
from which it has no further legal move. Similarly Pawns CAN be dropped so
as to give Checkmate or onto a file containing an unpromoted pawn of the
same player.
HANDICAP PLAY
===============
Handicaps are often given when players of unequal strength play Shogi in
Japan. The reason that handicap play is common is that the handicap system
in Shogi works far better than that used in Western Chess. A handicap
option has also been included for Micro-Shogi.
In a handicap game a player offers a handicap of one or more pieces to an
opponent of less strength. In Japan, there is a comprehensive system of
determining the appropriate handicap according to the respective rankings
of the players.
The player offering the handicap plays 'White'and his opponent (as 'Black')
removes the handicap pieces as the first move of the game. In handicap play
'White' therefore makes the first move on the board.
Pieces removed as a handicap are totally removed from play and are not
held in-hand by 'Black'.
NOTATION
==========
The following notation system is used for recording Micro-Shogi games in
this program.
The files are designated by numbers (1 to 4), and the ranks by letters
(a to e). The files are numbered from right to left (in the Japanese
fashion), and the ranks from top to bottom (from Black's point of view).
The top right square is therefore 1a.
A move is described by giving:
a) the designation of the piece (eg: R for Rook);
b) followed by the method of moving;
'-' for a simple move on the board,
'x' for a capture,
'*' for a drop,
c) then the destination square is recorded,
d) finally if the piece promoted (made a capture) on that turn, this is
recorded by adding '+' after the move.
If more than one piece of the same type can reach the destination square
then the starting square is also given after the piece designation to
avoid confusion.
A 'Rook' moving from 4d to 4c (which was occupied by an enemy piece) is
therefore recorded as Rx4c+.
NOTE: This system is the official notation system of 'The Shogi
Association' for Shogi variants.
DISPLAYING LEGAL MOVES
=========================
If the 'Show Move' option is selected from the Moves Menu, clicking the left
mouse button on a piece on the board or 'in hand' during play will show all
the legal moves of that piece:
- All legal moves (including 'drops') to vacant squares are represented
as White Circles,
- Legal captures are shown as Red Circles. "
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