Hasami Shogi is a fast, elegant capturing game played on a 9×9 board — a lightweight cousin of Japanese chess (shogi). You command a full back row of stones and so does the AI. There are no complicated piece types to memorise: every stone slides like a rook, and clever positioning is everything.
Play free online Hasami Shogi right here in your browser, with no download and no sign-up, across three sharpening AI difficulty levels. It is quick to learn but surprisingly deep, rewarding players who plan two or three moves ahead and bait the computer into overextending its line. If you enjoy abstract strategy board games, this is one of the most satisfying ways to play Hasami Shogi in browser.
Hasami shogi — literally "sandwiching shogi" — is a traditional Japanese game played with ordinary shogi pawns on a shogi board, and it has long served as a family-friendly introduction to the equipment before players graduate to full shogi. Its custodial pincer capture places it in a very old family of games: the same trap-between-two-stones mechanic drives the Roman-era Ludus Latrunculorum and the Viking Tafl games.
Traditional play comes in two main flavours: a pure capture race, where taking a set number of enemy stones wins, and the richer five-in-a-row version played here, where captures serve a positional goal. The tension between the two win conditions is the game's engine — every stone you push forward to build a row is a stone that can be sandwiched on the way.
Be the first to line up five of your stones in an unbroken row (horizontally or vertically, anywhere except along your own back rank), or grind the opponent down until they have fewer than five stones left.
Tap or click one of your stones, then tap a highlighted square. Stones slide any distance in a straight line, like a rook, but cannot jump over pieces. Works with mouse or touch.
Capture by trapping a straight line of enemy stones between two of yours (a sandwich / custodial capture) — they are removed instantly. Win by forming five in a row off your home row, or by reducing the AI below five pieces. Captures are tallied on screen and wins are recorded.
Build threats on two lines at once so the AI cannot block both, and watch your own stones — leave a gap and you will be sandwiched. Switch to Hard to face the deepest-thinking AI.
How do you capture in Hasami Shogi?
Trap one or more enemy stones in a straight, unbroken line between two of your own — the whole sandwiched line is removed at once. Moving your own stone into a gap between two enemy stones is safe.
How do you win Hasami Shogi?
Two ways: line up five of your stones in a row horizontally or vertically (away from your own back rank), or capture until the AI has fewer than five stones left.
Do the pieces move like regular shogi pieces?
No promotions or piece types here — every stone slides any distance in a straight line, exactly like a rook, and nothing can jump over another piece.
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