I’ve never actually played a game (but I have a set!), but, shogi, or, Japanese chess.

• Nine rows, nine ranks. Three nearest you are yours. The middle three are no man’s land.

• The second rank only contains generals, two of the new pieces. There’s a silver general and a gold general. Nine pawns.

• Any captured piece can be reclaimed, at the cost of a turn. It goes back to its starting position (which must be open).

• All pieces are 2D tiles with black kanji designations. The tiles are directional and always point away from you. (They’re slightly pentagonal.)

• All pieces can promote by reaching the ninth row. You flip the tile over and the designation becomes red and it gains new moves. (Its name changes too.)

• Most pieces can’t move backwards. This is one of the main abilities of a promoted (red) piece. The tile always points at your opponent.

• Games are timed like chess in official matches, and I assume they take longer. They’re typically played on the floor, though I think that’s more a Japanese thing than a shogi thing.

If you’re inclined toward anime at all, March Comes in Like a Lion is a nice little cosy slice of life story about a shogi player (and the insert song Nyan Shogi is a bop you’ll love to hate (it’s cats teaching you how to play Shogi)).