Strategic board game for two players that evolved in Japan from the 8th to the 12th century.
Although often called Japanese chess in the West, shogi is played with a board (9 × 9), pieces (flat, wedge-shaped tiles, all of one colour, with rank given by text on each side), and rules that are completely unlike those of chess . Its most unique feature is known as the drop, whereby a captured piece can be placed on an empty square, subject to certain restrictions. Most pieces are promoted to another piece, indicated by flipping its tile, after reaching particular regions of the board. Ownership of each piece is indicated by the direction of the wedge.