Shogi Variants: Animal Shogi, Minishogi, and Beyond

Shogi variants are alternative versions of Japanese chess played on boards from 3x4 up to 36x36. The most played today are Animal Shogi (a children’s game on 12 squares) and Minishogi (full shogi rules on a 5x5 board); historical giants like Chu Shogi and Taikyoku Shogi survive as curiosities.

A family with unusual range

Most classic games have variants; shogi has a dynasty. Japan spent centuries experimenting with the game at every scale, from a 12-square teaching toy to a board so large that the only fully documented modern game took three days. Some variants predate modern shogi itself; standard 9x9 shogi is, historically speaking, the mid-sized member of the family that happened to win.

Two variants are worth actually playing today, and you can play both of them here. The rest are worth knowing about, partly as history, partly because “the biggest chess game ever devised” is a fact people deserve to have at parties.

Animal Shogi: shogi for five-year-olds (and their parents)

Animal Shogi (dobutsu shogi, sold in English as “Let’s Catch the Lion!”) was designed by professional shogi player Madoka Kitao to bring children into the game. The board is 3x4; each side has four pieces, drawn as friendly animals: a lion (the king), a giraffe, an elephant, and a chick that promotes to a hen. Movement dots on each piece show exactly where it can go, so pre-readers can play. Captures go to your hand and drop back in, so the soul of shogi, the drop rule, is fully present in miniature.

Don’t let the artwork fool you: the game has genuine tactical content (it’s been fully analyzed by computers, and adults lose to well-prepared children constantly). As a gateway to real shogi, or a first strategy game for a small child, it’s close to perfect. Play Animal Shogi here.

Minishogi: the full game, quartered

Minishogi is standard shogi compressed onto a 5x5 board, invented around 1970 by Shigenobu Kusumoto. Each player has six pieces: king, gold, silver, bishop, and rook across the back rank, plus a single pawn. All the real rules apply: drops, promotion (the zone is just the last rank), the same piece movements you know from the pieces guide.

What it’s for: intensity. With no development phase and nowhere to hide, minishogi games are all middlegame and endgame, tactical from move one, done in minutes. It’s an excellent training tool for drop tactics and mating technique, an honest quick game when you don’t have thirty minutes, and a surprisingly deep pond for its size. Play Minishogi here.

Chu Shogi: the lion’s game

Going the other direction: Chu Shogi (“middle shogi”), the most beloved of the large historical variants, documented since the 14th century, older than the modern form of standard shogi. The board is 12x12; each player commands 46 pieces of 21 types, and, notably, there are no drops; captured pieces stay captured.

Its star is the lion, one of the most famous pieces in any chess-family game: it moves like a king but up to twice per turn, letting it capture two pieces in one move, or capture and return home, and special anti-lion trading rules exist just to keep it in check. Chu shogi retained a small dedicated following into the modern era (including, famously, within professional shogi circles) and still has active players and computer implementations today. We don’t offer it (yet), but it’s the variant most worth reading about.

Taikyoku Shogi: the largest chess game on Earth

And then there’s the one that reads like a myth but is documented in Edo-period sources: Taikyoku Shogi, “ultimate shogi.” The board is 36x36, 1,296 squares. Each player commands 402 pieces of 207 types. Total pieces on the board at setup: 804.

The best modern data point: a game played in 2004 for a Japanese TV show ran 3,805 moves and took 32 hours and 41 minutes across three days. Nobody knows how often the game was actually played historically; surviving sources describe it without much evidence of a playing community. It exists at the boundary where “game” becomes “monument,” and shogi culture, to its credit, built the monument anyway.

Between Chu and Taikyoku sit other historical giants (Dai Shogi at 15x15, Tenjiku Shogi at 16x16, and larger), each adding pieces and lore; a handful retain tiny modern followings.

Which variant should you actually play?

• Teaching a young child, or want a fun ten minutes: Animal Shogi. The mechanics of drops and promotion, no reading required.
• Know the rules, want sharper tactics or faster games: Minishogi. All killer, no filler, and your drop technique will thank you.
• Neither, honestly: the standard 9x9 game is the family’s masterpiece for good reasons. If you haven’t learned it yet, how to play shogi takes an hour, and the board is free.

The variants illuminate the main game from both ends: Animal Shogi shows how little you need for drops to be interesting, and the giants show how much structure the 9x9 board holds in so little space. However far you wander in the family, you tend to come home to 81 squares; see what is shogi for why the classic earned its place.

FAQ

What are the main shogi variants?

The widely played modern variants are Animal Shogi, a 3x4 children’s version with four animal pieces per side, and Minishogi, full shogi rules on a 5x5 board. Historical variants include Chu Shogi (12x12, famous for its lion piece) and enormous ceremonial games up to Taikyoku Shogi (36x36).

What is Animal Shogi?

Animal Shogi (dobutsu shogi), designed by professional player Madoka Kitao, teaches shogi fundamentals to children on a 12-square board. Each side has a lion, giraffe, elephant, and chick, with movement dots printed on the pieces. Captured pieces drop back into play, exactly as in full shogi.

What is the biggest shogi variant?

Taikyoku Shogi, played on a 36x36 board with 402 pieces per player (804 total) across 207 piece types. A documented 2004 game took 3,805 moves and nearly 33 hours of play spread over three days. It survives from Edo-period records more as a curiosity than a living game.

Does Chu Shogi have drops?

No. Chu Shogi, the 12x12 medieval variant, predates the drop rule: captured pieces are permanently removed, as in chess. Its fame rests on the lion, a piece that moves like a king up to twice per turn and can capture two pieces in a single move.