The Board & The Goal
📋 What it is
Shogi is played on a 9×9 board; the goal is to checkmate the enemy King, just like chess.
🗣️ Coach says
Shogi ("the game of generals") uses a 9×9 grid — 81 squares. Both armies point the same way (the pieces are flat wedges that show whose turn made them by which way they face). The aim is the same as chess: trap the enemy King so it cannot escape.
🧠 Memory hook
Nine by nine. Wedge pieces point at the enemy. Trap the King to win.
😂 Giggle
Why is a captured shogi piece never sad for long?
Because it always gets a second chance to drop back in!
😲 Whoa!
Shogi pieces have no colour — you tell them apart only by which direction each wedge POINTS, so a captured piece can instantly switch sides.
✅ Quick check: What is the goal of a game of shogi?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
To checkmate the enemy King — trap it so it has no legal escape, exactly as in chess.
Shogi, like chess, is won by checkmating the opponent's King.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Draw a 9×9 grid and count the squares (81). Note both sides face the same way in shogi.