modern Shogi: Also known as japanese chess. I not only play modern Shogi (played on a 9x9 board), but I also enjoy several of it's historical variants as well. Shogi is very much like chess, but with different pieces & moves. The basic objective is the same though, checkmate or capture the opposing players King. (Note: Although capturing a King is not possible in Chess, it is possible in Shogi.) A major difference between Shogi and Chess is that in Shogi when a piece is captured it is NOT removed from play permenantly, but instead goes into the capturing players 'hand' and can be placed back on the board (called 'dropping a piece')later to reenforce their army. Like Chess, Shogi pieces can promote under certain conditions. Unlike Chess, Shogi pieces need to reach any of the farthest three rows (the number of rows increases as the board sizes increase) rather than just the farthest back row. Also, Pawns are not the only pieces that can promote, nearly every piece on the Shogi board has a promoted value. Wa Shogi (11x11) is interesting in that the initial setup of the pieces is not symetrical on the left & right sides of the board as they are in modern Shogi (and also Chess). Most of the pieces in Wa are unique to Wa and are not used in other variants. Wa is played with or without drops, depending on the players' preferences. I generally prefer with drops. Chu Shogi (also known as Middle Shogi, and is played on a 12x12 board) has all the pieces in modern Shogi, plus a few more. The more notable of which is the Lion (which does not promote), whose moves (which can allow for such things as taking 2 pieces in a single turn, or capturing a neighboring piece but not moving) and rules for capturing often confuse newcomers. Another important piece is the Drunken Elephant, which in it's unpromoted state isn't all that wonderful, but when it promotes it becomes a Crown Prince and acts like a 2nd King which must also be checkmated/captured. Starting with Chu, the larger variants are played without drops. Dai Shogi increases the board size to 15x15 and adds a few more pieces to the ones found in Chu. The rules regarding the capturing of Lions is done away with in Dai. Tenjiku Shogi is very crazy. It's played on a 16x16 board, and has all of the pieces from Chu plus quite a few more. Lions now promote to Lion Hawks. A group of pieces known collectively as 'range jumpers' comes into play. And the very powerful Fire Demon (which 'burns' pieces around it and makes it able to take up to 8 pieces in a single turn) makes it's appearance. Players start out with 2 Fire Demons each, and they have two other pieces (the Water Buffalos) which can promote to Fire Demons, giving players the seldom used possibility of having up to four Fire Demons on their side. Tenjiku games tend to be very quick and blood thirsty. The largest Shogi variant that I currently play is DaiDai Shogi, which is played on a 17x17 board. DaiDai has many of the pieces from Dai and Tenjiku (but not the range jumpers or Fire Demons), plus even more. The Hook Movers and Long Nosed Goblins have very great ranges. The Hook Movers in particular can reach every square on the board in some circumstances. Promotion works differently in DaiDai (and variants larger than DaiDai) in that pieces promote when they capture something, rather than reaching the opposite end of the board. I enjoy folding origami too :) I've been folding origami for about 10 years now and still enjoy the challenges of learning new models. I have a video here on MySpace showing an origami turtle folding itself. This turtle model is one of my favorites, partially because I like the detailing it has, but also because I once caught (and released) a turtle when I was young and the origami ones I make generally tend to be the same size as the one I caught and it reminds me of the real one. Another of my favorite models is the geometric shape call the Icosahedron (D&D players imagine the shape of a 20-sided die) which is an example of modular origami and takes 30 pieces of paper to make. In modular origami one makes buiding blocks from the individual sheets of paper and assemble them kinda like a puzzle. My most time consuming hobby is 3D animation, to which I am still very much of a beginner. My current project is modelling Shogi boards so that I can eventually animated games playing themselves. I have some test renders of these here on MySpace.
You Were a Crow
Eternally wise, you have a deep understand of ethics. You guide people from the darkness to the light. What Animal Were You In a Past Life?
You Are A Walnut Tree
You are strange and full of contrasts... the oddball of your group. You are unrelenting and you have unlimited ambition. Not always liked but always admired, you are more infamous than famous. You are aggressive and spontaneous, and your reactions are often unexpected. A jealous and passionate person, you are difficult in romantic relationships. What's Your Celtic Horoscope?
You Are From Pluto
You are a dark, mysterious soul, full of magic and the secrets of the universe. You can get the scoop on anything, but you keep your own secrets locked in your heart. You love change and you use it to your advantage, whether by choice or chance. You don't like to compromise, to the point of being self-destructive with your stubborness.
Live life with love, and your deep powers will open the world to you. What Planet Are You From?
Advanced Global Personality Test Results
Extraversion |||||| 26%
Stability |||||||||||| 43%
Orderliness |||||||||| 36%
Accommodation |||||||||||| 50%
Interdependence |||||||||||||| 56%
Intellectual |||||||||||||||| 63%
Mystical |||||||||||||||| 70%
Artistic |||||||||||||| 56%
Religious |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Hedonism |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Materialism |||| 16%
Narcissism |||||| 30%
Adventurousness |||||||||| 36%
Work ethic |||||||||||||||| 70%
Self absorbed |||||||||| 36%
Conflict seeking |||||||||||| 50%
Need to dominate |||||||||| 36%
Romantic |||||||||||||| 56%
Avoidant |||||||||||| 50%
Anti-authority |||||||||||| 43%
Wealth |||| 16%
Dependency |||||||||||| 43%
Change averse |||||||||||| 43%
Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 70%
Individuality |||||||||||| 43%
Sexuality |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Peter pan complex |||||||||||| 50%
Physical security |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Physical Fitness |||||||||||||||| 64%
Histrionic |||||||||||| 50%
Paranoia |||||||||||||||| 63%
Vanity |||||||||||| 50%
Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 70%
Female cliche |||||||||||| 43% Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com
Your Life Path Number is 9
Your purpose in life is to make the world better
You are very socially conscious and a total idealist. You think there are many things wrong with the world, and you want to fix them. You have a big idea of how to world could be, and you'll sacrifice almost anything to work towards this dream. In love, you can easily see the beauty in someone else. And you never cling too tightly. You are capable of great love, but it's hard for you to focus your love on one person or relationship. You have a lot of outward focus, and you tend to blame the world for your failures.
You are often disappointed by the realities of life - it's hard for you to accept the shortcomings of the world. What Is Your Life Path Number?
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