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About this game
Shogi Master is the full 9x9 game of Japanese chess, not a mini variant. Every rule is in: pieces that promote when they enter the enemy camp with a proper promote-or-not dialog, pawn drops you cannot refuse on the last rank, knights that must turn on the far two rows, captured pieces kept in hand and dropped back on any empty square, and the three famous illegal drops - nifu (a second pawn on one file), dead drops that could never move again, and uchifuzume (a pawn drop that mates at once). The engine gives check warnings with a pulsing king, detects mate, and ends the game as a draw on the fourth occurrence of the same position (sennichite). You play the bottom army and move first against three AI levels with real time budgets, from a friendly novice to a searching engine with alpha-beta pruning and move ordering. A kifu-style move log records every play in traditional notation, an undo button takes back your move and the AI reply, and a resign button ends the game cleanly. The board is a warm kaya-wood color with ink characters and red promoted pieces, tuned for phones in portrait and desktops alike.
How to play
Tap one of your pieces, then tap a highlighted square to move or capture. Tap a piece on your hand stand and then an empty square to drop it. Choose Promote or Not when the dialog appears; it picks Promote by itself after 10 seconds. Use UNDO to take back a full turn and RESIGN to concede.
Tips & Tricks
- Open the bishop's diagonal with the seventh-file pawn - the classic first move.
- A rook on a wide-open file plus a pawn in hand is the strongest attacking combination in the game.
- Keep a gold or silver near your king; bare kings fall to rook drops in seconds.
- Silver heads for the enemy camp and promotes - a promoted silver fights like a gold and returns home as a defender.
- Drops cost no move of the dropped piece's original square, so a drop behind enemy lines is often worth more than a capture.
Frequently asked questions
Which rules are implemented?
All of them: standard piece movement, promotion with a choice dialog inside the enemy camp, forced promotions for pawns, lances and knights, drops from the hand, nifu, dead drops, uchifuzume, check and mate detection, and the fourfold-repetition draw (sennichite).
How strong is the computer?
Three levels with real thinking-time budgets. Novice plays fast and sometimes picks a human-like second-best move, Intermediate looks a few moves ahead, and Advanced searches deeper with alpha-beta pruning and thinks up to about two seconds per move.
What does UNDO do?
It takes back one full turn - your move and the AI's reply - and restores the position exactly, including the move log. It is available whenever it is your turn and the engine is not thinking.
How is the score calculated?
A win pays 1000, a draw pays 500 and a loss pays 100, multiplied by the level bonus: x1 on Novice, x1.5 on Intermediate and x2 on Advanced. Your best score is saved on this device only.
