Tori shogi

Tori shogi, meaning bird chess, is a variant of shogi, the Japanese strategy game, played on a smaller seven by seven board between two players. It was invented in 1799 by Toyota Genryu, although tradition long credited it to his teacher Ohashi Soei, and the game was first published in 1828 with a second printing in 1833. Tori shogi keeps the drop rule that lets a captured piece return to the board under its captor's control, one of the few historical shogi variants besides wa shogi to do so. A game typically takes between thirty minutes and two hours after a setup of under two minutes, and it involves no element of chance. Tori shogi remained popular enough to support organized tournaments in London and Royston, England, during the 1990s and early 2000s.