 | |
| Manufacturers | Arcane Wonders Pegasus Games |
|---|---|
| Publication | 2014 |
| Genres | Strategic board game |
| Players | 2 |
| Playing time | Approximately 15 minutes |
Onitama is a strategy board game for two players created in 2014 by Japanese game designer Shimpei Sato and launched by Arcane Wonders. [1] In Germany, the game was launched by Pegasus Games in 2017. It is thematically based on the different fighting styles of Japanese martial arts. [2] [3]
The game had a digital release in 2018. [4]
The game is played on a 5x5 board. Each player receives five pieces: one master piece placed in the middle square of the back row, known as the Temple Arch, and four student pieces flanking the master. Five random movement cards (from the 15 available) are utilized per game and dictate how the pieces may move during the game. [5]
There are two methods to win a game: the first method, known as the Way of the Stone, requires the player to capture the opponent’s master piece; the second method, known as the Way of the Stream, requires the player to move their master piece on to the opponent's Temple Arch.
Each player begins with two movement cards face-up, and the fifth card is placed to the right of the starting player (as indicated on this card).
A player’s turn consists of choosing one of their two movement cards and moving one of their pieces (master or student) as described by that card. This used card is then placed to the right of their opponent (for them to pick up next turn). The player then picks up the card which was to their right to restore their two card hand. This allows both players rotating access to all five movement cards in play, but which ones depends on when each movement card is played. [6]
A piece defeats an opponent’s piece by moving on to the same square as it. A piece may move through another piece, but only one piece may occupy each square. Players are not allowed to pass their turn unless they have no legal move. Play continues until one of the winning conditions is met.
Three expansion packs have been released.
"Sensei's Path" [7] includes sixteen new and unique cards that can be used as a standalone set of movement cards instead of those found in the base game.
"Way of the Wind" [8] introduces a neutral wind spirit that can be moved by both players. This is an impassable object, which neither student nor master pieces may displace from a square it occupies. If the wind spirit lands on a student piece, it does not capture it, but instead swaps places with it.
"Light and Shadow" [9] was released in late 2021. It introduces a new piece called the Ninja.
The rules of chess govern the play of the game of chess. Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game. Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on a chessboard. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king; checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign, and there are several ways a game can end in a draw.
Checkers, also known as draughts, is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from alquerque. The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move".
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Tori shōgi is a variant of shogi, which was invented by Toyota Genryu in 1799 despite being traditionally attributed to his master Ōhashi Sōei. It was first published in 1828 and again in 1833. The game is played on a 7×7 board and uses the drop rule; it is the only traditional shogi variant, possibly besides wa shogi, to do so. This is one of the more popular shogi variants. There were tournaments in London and Royston in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Knightmare Chess is a fantasy chess variant published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1996. It is a translation of a French game Tempête sur l'échiquier, designed by Pierre Cléquin and Bruno Faidutti. A stand-alone 80 card expansion called Series 2 was scheduled for a December 1997 release.
Ludus latrunculorum, latrunculi, or simply latrones was a two-player strategy board game played throughout the Roman Empire. It is said to resemble chess or draughts, as it is generally accepted to be a game of military tactics. Because of the scarcity of sources, reconstruction of the game's rules and basic structure is difficult, and therefore there are multiple interpretations of the available evidence.
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Whale Shogi is a modern variant of shogi. It is not, however, Japanese: it was invented by R. Wayne Schmittberger of the United States in 1981. The game is similar to Judkins shogi, but with more pieces, and the pieces are named after types of whale.
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Shō shōgi is a 16th-century form of shogi, and the immediate predecessor of the modern game. It was played on a 9×9 board with the same setup as in modern shogi, except that an extra piece stood in front of the king: a 'drunk elephant' that promoted into a prince, which is effectively a second king. While 9×9 may not seem 'small', it was smaller than the other shogi variants prevalent at the time, which were the 12×12 chu shogi and 15×15 dai shogi. According to the Sho Shōgi Zushiki, the drunk elephant was eliminated by the Emperor Go-Nara, and it is assumed that the drop rule was introduced at about the same time, giving rise to shogi as we know it today.
Wa shogi is a large board variant of shogi in which all of the pieces are named for animals. It is played either with or without drops.
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There are many variations of the simple rules of Go. Some are ancient digressions, while other are modern deviations. They are often side events at tournaments, for example, the U.S. Go Congress holds a "Crazy Go" event every year.
The fictional universe of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett features a number of invented games, some of which have gone on to spawn real-world variants.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:
This glossary of board games explains commonly used terms in board games, in alphabetical order. For a list of board games, see List of board games; for terms specific to chess, see Glossary of chess; for terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems.