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This page is written by the game's inventor, (zzo38) A. Black.

Mad Elephant Shogi

Setup

It is same as normal shogi, but there is the Elephant in front of the king.

Pieces

Elephant: Move exactly two spaces diagonally, and is allowed to jump except when capturing. Can promote to Mad Elephant (this is optional, like all other promotions)

Mad Elephant: Does not retain moves of Elephant. Can move one space diagonally and cannot capture (except that it can capture the king in this way). It is also allowed to make a rampage move: Move as far as possible in any direction (orthogonal or diagonal), stopping at the edge of the board, regardless of what is in between. Any pieces in that line (yours and opponent's pieces) are removed from the board. It is not allowed to rampage line if either player's king is in that line.

Rules

Mostly same as shogi.

Pieces removed from the board by rampage are placed in front of the player whose Mad Elephant stepped on them, but in a separate area, these pieces are called flattened pieces.

Flattened pieces can be dropped the same way as other pieces (dropped the unpromoted side up), except that when you try to drop it, you have to toss a coin. If you get head then you can drop it, if you get tails then you keep it off the board and you have to pass your turn (you can try again on another turn).

If one of your unpromoted pawn is adjacent (in any direction) to an opponent's Mad Elephant (but not if there is more than one), you can, instead of moving, force your opponent on their turn to move that Mad Elephant using rampage move in the direction toward this pawn. In this case (only), it is allowed to rampage kings, and if it is done, whoever loses their king loses the game. Using this special move uses up both your turn and your opponent's turn.

Notes

(It is based on another game in Chess Variants, called "Mad Elephant Chess", which I did not invent)

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By (zzo38) A. Black.
Web page created: 2011-02-12. Web page last updated: 2011-02-12