Dōbutsu shōgi

Dobutsu shogi, known in English as Let's Catch the Lion, is a simplified variant of Japanese shogi designed in 2008 for young children, played on a small board of three columns by four rows with four pieces per side, each represented by an animal rather than a traditional shogi piece name. The chick, elephant, giraffe and lion pieces move in simplified directions that approximate the movements of the pawn, bishop, rook and king in standard shogi, and as in full shogi a captured piece can be dropped back onto the board under the capturing player's control, preserving the game's central strategic idea in a form small children can learn quickly. The game was created by Madoka Kitao with input from professional shogi player Yoshiharu Habu, and it was conceived explicitly as an entry point intended to make the parent game's core concepts, especially the drop rule, approachable before a young player takes up full nine by nine shogi.