15: spinoza1313 (1070) 2024-09-28 10:33

i m even more optimistic than you, friend CAJEG: everybody around me is playing video games, and all video games have part of strategy in them. For example League of Legends, maybe the most played video game actually, has lot of of strategy in it. it s like football, baseball, all sports where there is team... have a good day/night!!!

14: CAJEG (1025) 2024-08-24 16:30

>>6  wmaynard

Since 2020, chess has really surged in popularity, so it might be unfair to judge your comment, but I would say that a lot of people are interested in strategy of some sort. It's true, strategy games all over the world have seen a decrease in popularity, but it's not a big one. There are still millions of people who are interested in chess and go and backgammon (okay, that's not so strategical), and many millions who love video games like Fire Emblem and Civilization, which are almost pure strategy.

I think what's really necessary is promotion outside of Japan, because in Japan probably about 10% of the population knows how to play shōgi and almost everyone has heard of it, but outside of Japan most people have never heard of it in their life, even though they know about chess. Even 1% of the UK, Germany, France, US, Italy, etc. knowing about shōgi would probably be a massive improvement for the playing numbers, even if only a third of the people who know it play it. 

13: MarcelStressy101 (800) 2023-12-05 07:49

There was an workshop 'how to play shogi' in the Japanese Embassy in Brussels (Belgium). There are some 30 players in Belgium and two or sometimes three clubs in Belgium.

12: ramalam (1027) 2022-08-31 21:06

I tried for many years to set up a club in Melbourne Australia . I amlost succeeded , then along came Covid!

I think it's really a minority hobby . Good luck with your efforts . 

11: Aaneliia (1395) ☗5☗6☗32022-08-10 13:42

Well, I think is no, only for chess-like users, they would like to try and play Shogi :p

10: dangomango (1124) 2022-06-09 18:53

I think it's a minority game even in japan

It seems the go(baduk,weiqi,igo etc.) population is much larger

There's a huge learning curve, learning the pieces, learning josekis, openings, mid game, endgame

I think it's even harder than learning Go, I rose thru the ranks in Go pretty quickly when I first got into it.
I guess it's much easier when the community is bigger, but anyways, shogi is fun in it's own way.

Learning and utilizing what you've learned also increases your brain power!

I think 95% of population prefer nobrainer games than a strategic one, lol.

9: captbirdseye (700) 2022-01-09 04:04 (Edited at 2022-06-10 14:08)

>>7  DoubleU様

> What does that mean, that shogi is a "baby game"?...

I think it must mean something like: "This is a great way of not promoting Shogi, and of ensuring that people lose interest - either inside or outside Japan.". A great help...

I should have also said that the guy who made the original comment (old6) is clearly a troll or a moron - probably both.

I too, am not afraid to say that because I'm free and nobody can stop me...

8: captbirdseye (700) 2022-01-09 03:55 (Edited at 2022-01-09 03:59)

> One of the most challenging things in promoting shogi outside of Japan is, without a doubt, keeping people interested.

This is absolutely true, but:

One of the most challenging things, if you do 'promote shogi outside of Japan', is getting absolutely no response when you post information, either on an individual or general basis. It is (or should be) a two-way traffic, so if you are on the receiving end of information about Shogi, please feed-back to the supplier of the information. Continually posting stuff into a vacuum can itself get pretty discouraging...

I'm not saying that this happens much here, but I see it all the time on other forums, and not just Shogi forums...

7: DoubleU (786) 2022-01-05 05:37

>>5  old6

What does that mean, that shogi is a "baby game"? Adults exist who play it for money. Snakes and Ladders seems more a "baby game" to me, as does Candyland.

6: wmaynard (1841) ☗2☗4☗52020-09-02 02:56

I don't believe shogi is for everyone in the same way that chess is not for everyone.

Strategy games require a degree of patience and affinity for problem solving that isn't common.  A majority of people don't want to invest the time it takes to fully appreciate the games, and I don't blame them for it.

Even chess isn't a popular game here in the U.S.  People don't want to play long, difficult strategy games instead of, for example, video games.  So, asking them to sit down with a cousin of chess, but with added complexity and kanji they have to memorize, people lose interest very quickly if they even listen at all.  I was the president of the chess club at my high school, but the year after I graduated, it became a "board games club", and chess was not included.

I think the best way to get new shogi players is to introduce people to a strategy game when they're children.  Nearly all of the serious players I know in both chess and shogi have played regularly from a very early age, either with family or clubs.

I think this is another reason it's easy for new players to be discouraged; their first games are usually against someone who has years or decades of experience.