Eastern Influence - Shogi, Mahjong, Go and Xiangqi
by John Seo
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From the Olympics in Beijing to huge market growth, Asian culture is quickly becoming a part of western culture. Whether Asian Americans or globalization trends are causing this flux of Eastern influence, it is clear that the Far East has become firmly entrenched in the Western melting pot. To begin this series on Eastern influence we will give an introduction to some of the popular Eastern board games that mainstream Americans might have already experienced.

Combined with difficult to interpret Chinese and Japanes characters (Shogi and Xianqi), and sometimes counter-intuitive rule-sets (Go), Easter board games have had a slow reception in the Western world. But, with English rule books and alternative piece designs, these games have begun to take hold in the Western World.

Shogi - 将棋

This unique two player chess variant uses 40 wedge pieces on a 9 x 9 board. Shogi originated in Japan and is now played all over the world. The game is won by capturing an opponents king.

While some of the pieces have the movement of a traditional rook or bishop, and pieces may promote when they reach the opponents territory, that's where the similarity ends. In Shogi pieces that are captured become available to the capturing army to drop on the board to add to their own army. This leads to a dynamic game where pieces are cycled quickly and tactical attacks are common.

Players are ranked as kyu or dan, not the traditional elo rating system used for chess, although this may be an option as the game becomes internationalized. When I played against a computer Shogi program a lowly 3 kyu ranked program bested me in short order.

Mahjong - 麻將

This four player strategy game includes calculation, skill and a degree of chance, making it a popular gambling game in Eastern countries. It is more similar to card games than dominoes despite the hard tiles the game is played with. These hard tiles are used to create melds, or combination of tiles, resulting in points or money being awarded. A winning hand contains a combination of fourteen tiles.

Mahjong has had a strong following by American women.

Recently the Chinese State Sports Commission has begun the difficult task of revising and internationalizing the rule set to allow for competitive play. The next European Mahjong Championship is being held in Austria 2009.

Go - 棋 - 碁

This two player game is rich in complex strategy and has already been adopted by many in the western world. The game is played on a 19 x 19 grid with opposing stones being placed in an effort to gain territory on the board. Stones may also be captured.

Go originated in China and was quickly and massively adopted in the Japanese community. Go can now be found being played by thousands of players from all over the world, 24 hours a day, at online game sites.

A kyu and dan system is used as in Shogi, although an elo system has been introduced to the game.

Xiangqi - 象棋

This two player chess variant, Xiangqi or Chinese chess, uses chariots, horses, elephants, advisors, generals and soldiers. Xiangqi has had very little reception in Western culture due to the rules being more complicated than the other games and the pieces being labeled by Chinese characters.

There are Chinese, Asian, and World Xiangqi Associations organizing tournaments on a regular basis.

Xianqi has a game-tree complexity of approximately 10^150, with computers just beginning to surpass humans in game skill.