Tori Shogi: Rules and How to Play

You lead bird pieces on a 7×7 board. Swallows are limited to two per file, and you capture and drop pieces to checkmate the enemy phoenix.

Objective

Win by attacking the enemy phoenix and leaving it no legal defence.

Each side starts with 16 pieces on a 7×7 board: phoenix, falcon, two cranes, two pheasants, left and right quails, eight swallows.
Black moves first; take turns playing one move.

Move a piece to capture an enemy piece. Captured pieces enter your hand and can be dropped on empty squares.
Falcons promote to eagles and swallows to geese when moving into, within or out of the last two ranks. A drop does not promote. Other pieces never promote.
Max two unpromoted swallows per file; geese do not count. Swallows cannot be dropped on the last rank or to checkmate. A swallow already on the board may move to checkmate.
Keep your phoenix safe. Pheasants jump two forward; geese jump two diagonally forward or directly backward. Eagles range up to two diagonally backward only through an empty intervening square.

Checkmate means the phoenix is in check and cannot escape, capture the attacker or be shielded. A side with no legal move also loses.
Repetition includes the board, hands and side to move. The player who started the sequence must vary the third traversal. Alternatively, choose a draw after four occurrences.

Anything the party can change is listed in the house rules table.
Item	Default on this site
Players	2 players (set automatically by the party size)
Turn time limit	None by default (the host can set 30 or 60 seconds)
If someone drops mid-game	Reopening on the same device returns you to your seat. If you do not return, the CPU plays in your place.
Draws	In ranked play, a draw counts as halfway between a win and a loss for your rating.
Source of the rules	Based on the standard reference rules

Rules supervised by Qdan, Inc. (based on the standard reference rules)

Defaults follow the standard reference rules. The party can change these.

Default is this site’s setting. Changeable shows whether the party can change it.
Name	Description	Default	Changeable
Show legal squares	Mark the squares a selected piece can reach.	On	Yes
Swap who starts	Swap who plays Black after each game.	On	Yes
Move limit	Draw the game once this many moves have been played. For tables that want to cut a long game short.	None	Yes
RepetitionRepetitionRepetition means the same board, pieces in hand and side to move. The player who started the sequence varies the third traversal. A move remains available if no alternative exists. With four-occurrence draws, perpetual check loses.	How a repeated position is handled.	Vary the third traversal	Changeable

What happens to captured promoted pieces?

Eagles revert to falcons and geese to swallows in your hand.

Last updated 2026-10-07 · Run by Qdan, Inc.