How to Play Shogi

Goal and turn order

Shogi (Japanese chess) is a two-player strategy game. The goal is to attack the opponent's king (王/玉) so that it has no escape — checkmate.

Players alternate turns. On each turn you either move one of your pieces on the board or drop a piece you captured earlier onto an empty square.

Sente (先手, first player) sits at the bottom and Gote (後手, second player) at the top. All pieces are the same colour; ownership is shown by the direction the wedge-shaped piece points.

A move, step by step

1. When it is your turn, tap one of your pieces; the squares it can reach are marked with green dots.
2. Tap a marked square to move there. If an enemy piece is there you capture it and it goes to your hand.
3. When a piece enters, moves within or leaves the opponent's last three ranks (the promotion zone), you are asked whether to promote it.
4. If you hold pieces in hand, tap one and then a legal empty square to drop it. Dropped pieces always land unpromoted.
5. You win when the opponent's king cannot escape. Moves that leave your own king in check are not allowed.

How does the game end?

• Checkmate: if the player in check has no legal move that removes the threat, they lose.
• There is no stalemate in shogi: a player with no legal moves loses.
• Resigning is common in serious games; a player says "makemashita" (I have lost).

What's next?

See how each piece moves on Shogi Pieces, and promotion, drops and other details on Rules. When you are ready, start against the computer on Easy or warm up with mate-in-one puzzles.