Yōkaï no Mori Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Classic Version (3x4)
  • Game Goal
  • General Presentation
  • Moving, Capturing and Parachuting of Yōkaï
    • 1. Moving
    • 2. Capturing an Opposing Yōkaï
    • 3. Parachuting a Captured Piece
  • Winning the Game
• Expert Version (5x6)
  • Game Goal
  • General Presentation
  • Moving, Capturing and Parachuting of Yōkai
  • Special Rules
  • Example of a Legal Checkmate
  • History

Classic Version (3x4)

This version is played on the board of 12 squares (3x4 squares), with 8 large pieces of wood that come with adhesive stickers showing full views of each major character.

Game Goal

Be the first to capture the opponent koropokkuru or to bring yours safely to the last koropokkuru row of the board.

General Presentation

Each player has four types of yōkai – forest spirits. They all have a face with orange dots and one can be turned over to a face with blue dots (kodama):

• The koropokkuru (leprechaun) is the master of yōkai. 1 sticker.
• The kitsune (fox). 1 sticker.
• The tanuki (related to the raccoon). 1 sticker.
• The kodama (tree spirit) can be turned into a kodama samurai. 2 stickers – one for each side.

The movement directions of each piece are shown by the dots on its sticker. As printed on the classic stickers:

• Koropokkuru: orange dots on all eight surrounding positions (the four corners and the four edge midpoints).
• Kitsune: orange dots on the four corners only.
• Tanuki: orange dots on the four edge midpoints only.
• Kodama (orange face): one orange dot, at the top edge midpoint.
• Kodama samurai (blue face): blue dots at the top corners and top midpoint, at the left and right midpoints, and at the bottom midpoint.

The starting positions of the yōkai are shown on the printed board diagram. They all start with the side showing orange dots facing up. A guide is also drawn at the bottom of the board.

At the start of the game, each player has the same yōkai. Players should place their pieces in front of them.

The first player is chosen at random and then each player, in turn, must move their yōkai one square at a time (players may not skip their turn).

Moving, Capturing and Parachuting of Yōkaï

On their turn, each player must do one of the following:

1. Move a piece to a free space.
2. Move a piece to a space occupied by the opponent and capture it.
3. "Parachute" a captured piece back onto the board.

1. Moving

A yōkai can only move in the directions indicated by its dots. The final square can be empty or occupied with an opponent's yōkai.

The kodama can only move forward one square, while its orange dots side is facing up.

Once a kodama crosses the orange line (the river) and occupies a space in the promotion zone, the kodama can be advanced (flipped over to the blue dots side) – it is now a kodama samurai, thereby increasing the directions it can move.

Example: On its orange dots side, the kodama can only move one space forward. As a kodama samurai, it can move one space in any direction on the board except to a diagonal backwards space.

2. Capturing an Opposing Yōkaï

If a yōkai moves to a square occupied by an opposing yōkai, that opponent's piece is captured and moved to the capturing player's reserve at the side of the board.

Important: a captured kodama samurai returns to its initial state of kodama (showing the orange dots face up) in the reserve.

Note: a kodama can be promoted while capturing and crossing into the promotion zone.

3. Parachuting a Captured Piece

On a turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player can take a piece from his reserve (captured pieces) and parachute (place) it onto any open space on the board with its orange dots side facing up.

Important: a kodama placed this way may not be promoted immediately. It must physically move one space within the opponent's back row (the last row after the orange line) to be promoted.

Note: it is possible to parachute a kodama directly into the opponent's back row if desired, but the kodama will be unable to move further, and will never become promoted to kodama samurai.

Winning the Game

1. If you capture the opponent's koropokkuru, you win.
2. If you manage to move your koropokkuru into the opponent's back row and it cannot be captured by your opponent on their next turn, you win.
3. If the players move their yōkai back and forth three times in succession, the game ends in a draw.

Be careful: turnarounds are very quick and often fatal. Enjoy!

Expert Version (5x6)

This version is played on the board of 30 squares (5x6 squares), with 16 small pieces of wood that come with adhesive stickers showing full views of each major character.

The koropokkuru, kodama and kodama samurai are the same as the classic version 3x4. The two new yōkai are explained below. The rules are the same as the classic version except for the following additions:

Game Goal

Be the first to capture the opponent koropokkuru.

General Presentation

Each player now has four types of yōkai – forest spirits. They all have a face with orange dots and two can be turned over to a face with blue dots (kodama and oni):

• The koropokkuru (leprechaun) is the master of yōkai. 1 sticker.
• The kirin (unicorn) is the best friend of the koropokkuru. 1 sticker.
• The oni (ogre) can be turned into a super oni. 2 stickers – one for each side.
• The kodama (tree spirit) can be turned into a kodama samurai. 2 stickers – one for each side.

The movement directions of the expert pieces are shown by the dots on their stickers. As printed:

• Koropokkuru: orange dots on all eight surrounding positions (the four corners and the four edge midpoints).
• Kirin: orange dots at the three top positions (top-left, top-centre, top-right), at the left and right midpoints, and at the bottom midpoint.
• Oni (orange face): orange dots at the top-left corner, the top midpoint and the bottom-left corner are visible on the printed sheet. The super oni sticker is printed over the right-hand side of the oni sticker, so the right-hand dots of the orange face cannot be read from the sheet. Transcriber's note: the full dot pattern of the orange oni face is therefore not confirmed by this transcription; check the official printed sheet.
• Super oni (blue face): blue dots at the three top positions, at the left and right midpoints, and at the bottom midpoint.
• Kodama and kodama samurai: as in the classic version (see above).

The starting positions of the yōkai are shown on the printed board diagram. They all start with the side showing orange dots facing up. A guide is also drawn at the bottom of the board.

Moving, Capturing and Parachuting of Yōkai

The "promotion zone" of the opponent (koropokkuru) is the top two rows of the board – after the river and the orange line. The two central rows (where the kodama are at the beginning of the game) are a "neutral zone".

To enter the opponent's promotion zone with its pieces, or to exit, or to move into this zone, gives the right to "promote this piece" – to flip the piece onto its face with the blue dots.

Note: by capturing an opponent's piece, a promotion is also possible.

The two pieces which can be promoted are the kodama (promoted to kodama samurai), and the oni (promoted to super oni).

The parachuting (returning to play) of a captured piece is always placed on its initial face (face with orange dots facing up).

Special Rules

1. When a piece is "parachuted" (placed back into play after being captured), it must be able to make a valid movement afterward. Therefore, kodama can never be parachuted into the last row since it could not move.

2. A promotion is always optional while moving pieces around in the promotion zone, except in the case of a kodama that would reach the last row: it is obliged to be promoted into kodama samurai, otherwise it could not move afterwards – see section just before.

3. Two kodama belonging to the same player can never be positioned in the same column. However, having a kodama and a kodama samurai in the same column is allowed.

4. It is forbidden to put a parachuting kodama in front of the opponent koropokkuru if it creates "checkmate" (koropokkuru cannot move without getting captured and cannot capture the parachuted kodama without being captured himself).

Example of a Legal Checkmate

In this example, the Super Oni's position prevents the opponent koropokkuru from escaping and accomplishes "checkmate".

Note: the koropokkuru cannot capture this Super Oni or escape by moving since it would be in position to be captured.

So Player 1 wins.

(The printed diagram shows the Promotion zone, the Neutral zone, the Player 1 zone and the captured pieces reserve.)

History

The goal of the Japanese Shogi Association is to promote and popularize the Shogi. There are 250 professional players in this Federation.

Yōkaï no Mori 5x6, or Gorogoro Shogi, was created by the Japanes [sic] Shogi Association in 1994.

The thanks paragraph that closes the printed History block is omitted as an acknowledgement.