Shogi - Japanese Chess
Shogi is a board game from Japan that is similar to Chess. It has a
long and rich history in Japan though it is not well known in the rest
of the world. The most striking difference between Shogi and Chess is
that captured pieces may be brought back into play at any time by the
player who captured them. This feature supposedly is a reflection on
the tendency of medieval Japanese mercenaries to switch sides when
captured.
The game is played on a board with nine rows and columns. Each player may make one move or one "drop" per turn. A drop occurs when a player places a piece that they have previously captured back on the board. The game ends when one of the kings is put into checkmate, meaning that there is no possible move that will save the king from capture on the next turn.
The game can also end in a stalemate position, though it is extremely rare. A stalemate is what happens when a player is left with no legal moves. As opposed to chess, a stalemate is considered to be a win for the player giving stalemate.
Promotion
Each player has a promotion zone made up of the last three rows of the board. After every move that takes a piece into or out of the promotion zone you will have the opportunity to promote your piece. Promotion is not mandatory and you may choose to leave a piece unpromoted as some pieces lose moves on promotion. Pieces dropped into the promotion zone do not get to promote until after they have been moved.