swap_horiz Shogi Alternatives

1

Xiangqi

Xiangqi is a traditional board game originating in China. It utilizes a 9x10 grid with a prominent river dividing the pl...

Traditional Regional Chinese River Boundary

9.5 Brilliant

2

Janggi

Janggi is a Korean chess variant distinguished by its larger 9x10 board and unique piece movements. It retains strategic...

Korean Traditional Palace Regional

9.1 Excellent

3

Crazyhouse

Crazyhouse is a dynamic chess variation introducing strategic complexity through piece capture. Captured pieces are imme...

Online Tactical Modern Drop Pieces

8.9 Great

4

Chu Shogi

Chu Shogi is a historical Japanese variant played on a 12x12 board that originated in the 14th century, distinguished by...

Japanese Historical 12x12 Shogi Family

8.8 Great

5

Bughouse

Bughouse is a fast-paced, four-player team variant played on two boards where captured pieces are passed to teammates fo...

Team Tandem Four Player Drop Pieces

8.7 Great

6

Makruk

Makruk, or Thai chess, is a traditional variant closely resembling the original Indian Chaturanga, featuring similar pie...

Classical Traditional Regional Thai

8.5 Great

7

Crazyhouse960

Crazyhouse960 is a hybrid merging the drop mechanics of Crazyhouse with Chess960's randomized starting positions, elimin...

Online Hybrid Combined Randomized

8.5 Great

8

Tandem Chess

Tandem chess, also known as bughouse, is a popular four-player team variant invented in the 20th century where teammates...

Team Tandem Four Player Drop Pieces

8.2 Great

9

Mini Shogi

Mini Shogi is a modern, compact variant of traditional Japanese chess played on a 5x5 grid with only six pieces per play...

Modern Japanese Small Board 5x5

8.1 Great

10

Kriegspiel

Kriegspiel is a blind variant where players cannot see their opponent's pieces and must rely on a referee to announce il...

Classic Traditional Hidden Incomplete Information

8.0 Great

11

Judkins Shogi

Judkins Shogi is a compact Japanese variant invented by Paul Judkins in 1998, played on a 5x6 board with a reduced piece...

Modern Japanese 6x6 Small Board

7.8 Good

12

Suicide Chess

Suicide Chess is a sub-variant of Losing Chess where capturing opponent pieces is mandatory, and the ultimate goal is to...

Online Traditional Misere Reversed Goal

7.7 Good

13

Tori Shogi

Tori Shogi, or Bird Chess, is a 7x7 Japanese variant invented in 1799 by Ohashi Soei, uniquely featuring pieces named af...

Japanese Historical Shogi Family Bird Pieces

7.7 Good

14

Ouk Chatrang

Ouk Chatrang is the Cambodian form of chess, distinguished by an opening move called the king's leap and its early evolu...

Classical Traditional Regional Cambodian

7.6 Good

15

Sittuyin

Sittuyin is traditional Burmese chess, uniquely notable for its flexible initial setup phase where players position thei...

Traditional Regional Southeast Asian Burmese

7.5 Good

16

Dai Shogi

Dai Shogi is an ancient Japanese variant played on a massive 15x15 grid with 65 pieces per player, serving as the histor...

Japanese Historical Shogi Family Large Board

7.3 Good

17

Kyoto Shogi

Kyoto Shogi is a fast-paced 5x5 Japanese variant invented in 1999 where each piece flips over to a different piece type...

Modern Japanese 5x5 Shogi Family

7.1 Good

18

Wa Shogi

Wa Shogi, meaning Ring Chess, is a traditional Japanese variant played on an 11x11 board where pieces are uniquely named...

Japanese Historical Promotion Shogi Family

6.9 Fair

19

Loop Chess

Loop Chess is an abstract variant where the board's edges wrap around to connect to the opposite side, creating a contin...

Modern Recycling Fairy Drop Pieces

6.8 Fair

20

Chessgi

Chessgi is a mid-20th-century variant combining Western chess and Japanese shogi, allowing players to drop captured piec...

Modern Fairy Drop Pieces Drop Captured

6.8 Fair