Card Shogi: Rules and How to Play

Card Shogi is a 2-player shogi variant, about 15 minutes: each turn draw a playing card and move or drop onto that file, or lose. Free, no sign-up.

Objective

In Card Shogi the card you draw decides which file you may play on. The first to checkmate the enemy king wins.

Set up the pieces as in shogi.
Shuffle two packs' worth of playing cards from 1 to 9 (ace counts as 1), 72 cards in all. When the deck runs out, it is reshuffled.

At the start of your turn draw one card (both players see it). Move one of your pieces to a square on that file, or drop a piece from hand on an empty square of that file. Files are counted from Black's right: file 1 is Black's right-hand edge, file 9 the left, on either player's turn.
When you are in check, do not draw. Answer with any move — move any piece or drop a piece to block.
Piece moves, promotion, drops, two pawns on a file, pawn-drop mate and pieces with no further move are as in shogi.

Checkmate the enemy king to win.
If you have no legal move on the file of your card, you lose.
If the same position appears four times, the game is drawn (repetition). Repeated checks lose for the checking side.

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
Add jokersAdd jokersIn Trump Shogi you may only play on the file (column; file 1 is on Black's right) matching the card you drew. With this setting on, two jokers are added to the deck, and whoever draws one may make any move that turn, free of the file.	Add two jokers to the deck. Whoever draws a joker may make any move.	Off	Yes
No move on the card's fileNo move on the card's fileWhat happens when no piece can move to, and no piece in hand can be dropped on, the file you drew. "You lose" is the source rule, so luck can end the game suddenly. "Draw again" keeps drawing (up to one pass through the deck) until a playable card comes, so you rarely lose to luck alone.	What happens when you cannot play on the file you drew.	You lose	Yes
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

File of the card: The file whose number matches the card. File 1 is Black's right-hand edge.
Deck: The face-down pile of cards. Cards are drawn one at a time; nobody can see the order.
Joker: An optional card: whoever draws it may make any move.

How are files counted on White's turn?

The same way: file 1 is Black's right-hand edge (the numbers along the board).

What if I cannot play on my file?

You lose at once. A setting lets you redraw instead.

Do I draw when I am in check?

No. Answer the check with any move.

Last updated 2026-09-25 · Run by Qdan, Inc.