5 Dobutsu Shogi ("Animal Chess") is a Shogi variant for young children.
6 It was invented by professional shogi player Madoka Kitao, partially to
7 attract young girls to the game. It is played on a 3×4 board and
8 generally follows the rules of standard shogi,
9 with a few exceptions described below.
11 figure.diagram-container
13 | fen:gke/1p1/1P1/EKG:
14 figcaption Initial position.
18 You must either capture the enemy Lion (King) or move your own
19 Lion into the final rank.
21 All pieces move by one square at a time,
22 following directions indicated on pieces' edges.
24 Once arrived on the final rank, Chick (Pawn) promotes into Hen (Tokin),
25 moving in all directions except diagonally backward.
26 Other pieces don't transform.
28 Instead of playing a move, captured pieces may be dropped
29 (without restrictions). A captured Hen turns back into a Chick.
30 li Repetition of moves counts as a draw.
32 figure.showPieces.text-center
33 img(src="/images/pieces/Dobutsu/wh.svg" style="width:100px")
34 figcaption Hen: promoted pawn.
39 | The variant is playable on
40 a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/dobutsu") pychess-variants
41 | . See also the Wikipedia page.