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Taikyoku Shogi. Extremely large shogi variant. (36x36, Cells: 1296) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Nicholas Wolff wrote on Thu, Jan 6, 2011 06:29 AM UTC:
Mats,

I agree that the game itself is complicated, much like many variants found on this site, but I hardly think it is apalling.  Mankind naturally gravitates towards bigger and better things.  Considering that this was played in the 1600's, it probably was eccentric for its time, but I think after its rediscovery in 1997, it has put a spark in at least some people, including myself.  To play and finish a game on the world's largest board game would be the equivalent of a runner training for a marathon, which less than one percent of the world has completed.  Apalling... I wouldn't classify it as that.  Eccentric... even now, to a degree.  Complicated... undoubtedly.  Intriguing... to me it is.

Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Wed, Jan 12, 2011 06:30 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
hey, u would have to walk on the board to make move would u? (lol)
love how big it is, probably would be hell to play :)

what is the difference between 'step' and 'slide', is 'step' different from 'leap', i dont kinda understand.

Nicholas Wolff wrote on Wed, Jan 12, 2011 10:49 AM UTC:
Step, to my understanding, means just moving one square, like an orthodox King. Slide would be what a bishop or a rook does. Jumping is for Knights, etc. You can google some interesting photos of taikyoku shogi boards. They are HUGE! I would not doubt that you'd have to crawl over a board to make a move.

Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Wed, Jan 12, 2011 02:12 PM UTC:
heya, no, i looked at the piece movements and 'steps' cant be just for a single square move, for instance ...

Free Demon:
steps 5 forward orthogonal or backward orthogonal, slides left orthogonal or right orthogonal or diagonal.

Chris Witham wrote on Wed, Jan 12, 2011 06:51 PM UTC:
A step would be one square, so 'five steps' would be five squares in that direction. Stepping is not jumping (it's more like sliding with a limited range) so stepping moves can be blocked the same way a bishop or rook's move can be blocked.

George Duke wrote on Mon, Mar 16, 2015 05:53 PM UTC:
One list of pieces to draw from, to find Predators.

And another: http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSfairypiecespar.

Jeremy Hook wrote on Sat, Dec 19, 2015 02:05 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Actually I am having to make my own board, hand drawing all the symbols on paper pieces, because no-one sells them in any way, shape, or form. Another thing is that if you google Taikyoku shogi in addition to a couple of images of your search,you will get a lot of images of Tai shogi, which is actually played enough to mention as more than a historic curiosity. Tai shogi is played on a "mere" 25x25 board, but the players still have to use tongs to reach the other side of the board. I was telling my grandmother about Taikyoku shogi, and she suggested that the reason that it disappeared and was forgotten about is that the "three people who played it died". There is no evidence that it was ever widely played. Wonder why. There is however one (1!) youtube video of it.

Jeremy Hook wrote on Sat, Dec 19, 2015 02:05 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Actually I am having to make my own board, hand drawing all the symbols on paper pieces, because no-one sells them in any way, shape, or form. Another thing is that if you google Taikyoku shogi in addition to a couple of images of your search,you will get a lot of images of Tai shogi, which is actually played enough to mention as more than a historic curiosity. Tai shogi is played on a "mere" 25x25 board, but the players still have to use tongs to reach the other side of the board. I was telling my grandmother about Taikyoku shogi, and she suggested that the reason that it disappeared and was forgotten about is that the "three people who played it died". There is no evidence that it was ever widely played. Wonder why. There is however one (1!) youtube video of it.

H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Dec 19, 2015 04:19 PM UTC:
> <i>Actually I am having to make my own board, hand drawing all the symbols on paper pieces, because no-one sells them in any way, shape, or form.</i> <p> Uh? Are they sold out at The Shogi Association? ( george.hodges@talk12.com ) <p> Drawing by hand also seems unnecessary; there are on-line versions available that you could print out. E.G. <a href="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/041/b/1/taikyoku_shogi_2_by_tkr101010-d399ucj.png">here</a>.

Jeremy Hook wrote on Mon, Dec 21, 2015 02:22 PM UTC:
The image you gave is one of the board after set-up; However, the pieces in Taikyokushogi are double-sided. I have sent an email to the address you suggested. We'll see. The other thing is that I'm on a somewhat tight budget. I will get back to you as to Mr. Hodges. Oh, look! I just got an email that said that the message was not delivered as the address wasn't valid. If you know anything about this, please tell me.

John Lawson wrote on Tue, Dec 22, 2015 12:22 AM UTC:
George Hodges died about five years ago.

H. G. Muller wrote on Tue, Dec 22, 2015 09:33 AM UTC:
Sorry, my bad. The domain was talk21.com, not talk12.com. <p> George died for sure, but his widow, Angela Hodges, continues his business. I ordered a CD-ROM with the Middle Shogi Manual from here last year. I still have the pricelists in both euros and sterling attached to the e-mails, but they are .doc files, so I cannot read them. So I cannot tell you off hand whether taikyoku sets are still in supply, and what the prices are.

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Dec 23, 2015 04:51 AM UTC:
I have been out of touch for years, but I don't think George ever made Taikyoku sets.  Tai Shogi sets for sure, since I have one, but none larger.

H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Dec 23, 2015 07:41 AM UTC:
You could be right. As I said, I am not able to read the price list, as it is in .doc format. I just thought he supplied equipment for all variants described in his leaflets.

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Dec 23, 2015 11:20 PM UTC:
I have MS Office both at home and work, so I could likely read the file and translate to another format if you send it to me.  The email account in my member record is still current.

Jeremy Hook wrote on Wed, Dec 30, 2015 08:02 AM UTC:
Would you please send me the price list? Thanks! (jeremyhhook@gmail.com)

A. M. DeWitt wrote on Sun, Jan 30, 2022 07:34 PM UTC:

The -|-|-|-> symbol may mean slide or move as Lion Dog (from the smaller Shogi variants) in the direction the arrow points, which I got from this article by Eric Silverman: Shogi variants: translation notes (I) | Dr Eric Silverman


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