Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Shogi Equipment

While I have Shogi software for each of the three operating systems I use, there are certain times where I'd really like to have a physical board to play and practice with. It would also assist with my turn-based online games since I could test out variations without using software.

There appears to be a dearth of online shogi vendors so the options are limited to Yutopian and Yellow Mountain Imports. I won't mention Kiseido since their prices are pretty ridiculous and they are tough to deal with in terms of actually making an order and payment (I've bought a go book from them in the past).

Yutopian offers a foldable agathis board with cream-colored plastic pieces:

https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?product=CJ001&category=CJ0

I believe this is the same set that is sold at The Trading Centre. To me, it looks pretty nice. The problem is that the Yutopian web-site is so unprofessional that I do not feel comfortable providing payment information. They were actually down for most of the day yesterday. If they offered paypal it would be fine.

YMI offers a few all-wood sets, however the wood for both the board and pieces looks rather cheap:

http://www.ymimports.com/Shogi%20-%20Japanese%20Chess/

I may also try to visit a local japanese marketplace here in the Chicago suburbs. If I don't find anything, another option would be to simply bite the bullet and buy it from The Trading Centre which is based in the UK. The costs would be higher, but they do accept paypal. I've used them twice so far. Once for Shotest Shogi 3D and the second time to buy the Fairbarn book which I could not find from a US vendor. I ended up paying close to $50 for a $20 book. If the book arrives in a timely fashion and I have not yet found a set locally, I may just buy from them again.

3 comments:

takodori said...

First, thanks for adding my blog to your Links.

Are you in Chicago? I heard there is shogi gathering on 2nd and 4th Saturdays in Mitsuwa Market Place. You may hear from the participants where to buy real shogi sets. Contact information is here at
http://www.nyshogi.com/jp/index_jp.html

frankiii said...

Thank you! The local japanese marketplace I refer to is actually Mitsuwa so I will definitely go!

frankiii said...

I attempted to contact nyshogi at the email address on their site (nyshogi@nyshogi.com) and, unfortunately, the email was rejected by the mail server. I'll have to go physically on Saturday to inquire.