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Whale Shogi. Shogi variant. (6x6, Cells: 36) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Julian wrote on Mon, Mar 30, 2015 07:44 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I noticed that it could be played with a regular shogi set, with the pawns representing dolphins, the bishop representing the gray whale, a horse representing the narwhal, a gold general representing the humpback, a silver general representing the blue whale, the rook representing the porpoise, and the promoted rook representing the killer whale.

Anonymous wrote on Sat, Oct 9, 2010 07:48 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Wow, there are a lot of people hating Whale Shogi.  I for one like my chess
variants nice and complex, and 8 piece types (which are not really that
hard to learn) is a good balance, rather like Tori Shogi, which I am also a
fan of.  The divergent pieces are certainly easier to keep track of than,
say, the pieces in Chu Shogi, Tenjiku Shogi, and definitely Taikyoku
Shogi.

Anyways, on a random note, the Porpoise/Killer Whale duality is a new,
interesting idea I haven't seen anywhere else.  Because you have to
consider in Shogi variants what your opponent will gain as well as what you
will lose, I have found the Porpoise's value to be about equal to that of
the Grey Whale.

Oh, and by the way, I am also a fan of Outback Chess ;-).

George Duke wrote on Fri, Nov 16, 2007 06:01 PM UTC:Poor ★
The second Poor is for 8 piece-types. The first Poor is for name. A third Poor is in follow-up Comment about Whale Shogi dynamics in play. Mark, what are weird are CVPage's philosophy and practice of posting CV after CV that no one plays. For example, Joe Joyce says today he has not played Falcon King. In our view that negligence speaks for itself. Undisconcerted, I expect always to enjoy courteously reviewing(unlike prolificists themselves) any and all such games even hardly played, a practice 'we'(the Falcon team) started in 1992 with hundreds of patents before CVPage existed. Actually I welcome attacks because of mostly not respecting views of those mired in prolificist values(not referring to Mark Thompson who submits occasional well-thought-out CVs). Falcon Chess is the one CV out of 3000 in CVPage with far the greatest number of 'Poors', bar none, and has been for 7 years. We are used to personal attacks too, within 48 hours ''delusions of grandeur'' and ''really really weird.'' To contrary, unfortunate, pathetic is thus to react personally without analysis because of disagreeing about naming well-explained. Weird and shortsighted are indifference to projected loss 1/3 Earth's species within decades and really innocent statement of concern by noting oxymoronic name 'Whale Shogi'. The name as 'Poor' is represented not as my own but likely view of 'significant segment' noticing trends of ecological damage. What is Whale Shogi's following for its 'Darwinian test'? 10 Players? There is no positive 'Charles Darwin's test' for any CV yet, because none of them have significant adherents, not Glinski's Hexagonal, not Fischer Random Chess, not Omega Chess. A pittance is each one's followings compared to FIDE-type Chess (or Monopoly, Bridge, Scrabble, Rubik's Cube, crossword puzzle): no CV has been successful, bar none).

David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Nov 15, 2007 11:02 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Douglas Silfen has made a ZRF for Whale Shogi by R. Wayne Schmittberger, which also includes the variant from my [2005-04-01] Comment. Surviving for 26 years and producing offspring meets Charles Darwin's test of excellence.


Mark Thompson wrote on Thu, Nov 15, 2007 09:46 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I've played Whale Shogi. It's fun. For someone to rate it 'poor' in protest against Japanese whaling practices is really, really weird.

George Duke wrote on Wed, Nov 14, 2007 11:28 PM UTC:Poor ★
Chess Variant Page eliminated a couple of large Shogis in late 1990's because of pieces with 'Demon' appellation or hyphenation or two-word name one being 'Demon'. They were long articles showing large Chesses of more than 12 or 15 or even 20 pieces(types). The articles were interesting, and I for one was not finished studying them. One or more Editors thought 'Demon' was inappropriate, their prerogative, and the write-ups are long gone. There were brief explanation but no real follow-up commenting; it was generally accepted as Editorial policy. In any event, thus objecting to a game for the name and that being sufficient for 'Poor' are not without precedent, having occurred even in this same Shogi family. When we re-rate, we always add substance. Whale Shogi is Poor also for 8 piece-types on 36 squares, where an idealized from several standpoints would be 4 or 5. See Game Design thread Comments years 2003-2005, when standards of Comments were high before reduction in number of regular Commenters by the last year or 1 1/2 being dominated(downgrading) by fewer prolificists.

George Duke wrote on Wed, Nov 14, 2007 09:12 PM UTC:Poor ★
A significant segment of 'human' population would object to the name of this CV, because of the juxtapositon of 'Whale' and 'Shogi'. The reason starts with the association of Shogi as Japan's national Chess game, Shogi coming into being there up to 1000 years ago. Second, the reported continued, at times indiscriminate slaughter of Whales and Dolphins by Japanese fishermen as matter of current documented, videotaped practice. The objectors would cite the intelligence of fellow sentient creatures being pointlessly exterminated, adults with brains larger than humans' and equally active, and the more pointless because mercury(Hg) levels' in specimen having been determined to exceed standards within Japan itself, excluding most of their uses for foods.

Jonathan Rutherford wrote on Thu, Sep 27, 2007 10:48 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Thank you for implementing this. I have Wayne's rules in a rough draft form. I was considering making the rules more accessible to the public on his behalf, but I never received any go-ahead from him, nor have I had much free time of late. I'm glad the ZRF is available so everyone can finally enjoy this game that Wayne invented.

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Fri, Apr 1, 2005 12:56 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Yes, it can be good in 7x7, and Grey Whale Calf is a possibility, but adding a bit more power can be tested too, by example: allowing a two-squares-sliding forward movement for this piece. Some tests are needed. In the future, if I have some free time, I´ll try a ZRF, to see.

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Fri, Oct 1, 2004 01:39 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
The average number of moves to finish a good Whale Shogi game may be not very high, perhaps around 20 moves. I think this class of game should be excellent in a 7X7 baord, but it is the need of another piece to insert coherently in the game. (well, it is easy show ideas, the interesting thing is chose the best one, without a loss of the personality of the game. I don´t think that the criterium would be uniform in this case, and accepted as the best by everybody)

Roberto Lavieri wrote on Thu, Sep 30, 2004 01:14 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
Whale Shogi is a very good game. A ZRF would not be very difficult, I´m sorry I have not time enough to do it, for a while, but perhaps other people can be encouraged to write the code.

Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, Sep 29, 2004 09:14 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A fine small Shogi variant. I would love to see the rules for the 11x11 variant.

mike wrote on Thu, Feb 6, 2003 06:15 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
oops, I meant to say porpoise. I was wondering if in that instance, you would be allowed to have two killer whales.

mike wrote on Wed, Feb 5, 2003 01:40 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
if a player has a killer whale, and that player captures the other's killer whale, does he get to place another killer whale or does it return as a dolphin?

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