Kotelar Torissogi

Kotelar Torissógi (KOH-tay-lahr toh-ree-SHOOH-guee) is a 3d variant of the game Tori Shogi. It first appeared on the planet Kotelo sometime before the 27th century AD. Playwright Stæla Asín (c. 2663-c. 2715) was said to be a decent player, and her comedy Beu Tæns æz Te Mæ (Be That as It May) is about a game of it.

This game uses a 5*5*5 board like in Raumschach. The 125 cells are known as perches. Orthogonal perches/cells share a face, semi-diagonal ones share an edge, and diagonal ones share a vertex. Vertical planes that go from front to back are files, vertical planes that go left to right are ranks, and horizontal planes are called levels. Promotion zones are where the furthest two ranks meet the furthest two levels (i.e. where your opponent's pieces start). Movement from one rank to another is forward or backward, files left or right, and levels near or away (literal translations of nur and uvǽ). Your pieces are in the near front.

Px stands for the Phoenix, the royal piece. It moves one perch in any direction. The asterisk denotes the Phoenix on the side that goes first.

F stands for the Falcon. This moves to any adjacent perch on the same level or the level above, or to any adjacent perch semi-diagonally downward. It can, in the promotion zones, promote to an Eagle. The Eagle has an even more complicated move than in the 2d version: it moves one perch orthogonally on the same level, one perch orthogonally away, one perch semi-diagonally, one or two perches diagonally near, any number of perches diagonally away, or any number of perches directly near. It cannot bypass any piece in its way. If it is captured, the promotion is undone.

C stands for Crane. The Crane moves to any adjacent perch on an adjacent level.

L stands for Læssúsa, Kotelar for Owl. The Owl moves to any adjacent perch on an adjacent rank.

Pt stands for Pheasant. The Pheasant moves exactly two perches forward or away (bypassing any other piece in its way), or moves one perch semi-diagonally backward or near.

LQ and RQ stand for Left Quail and Right Quail. The Left Quail ranges any number of perches directly forward, directly away, semi-diagonally back-right, or diagonally back-right; it also moves semi-diagonally back-left or diagonally back-left. It cannot bypass any piece in its way. The Right Quail moves in much the same way, but with left and right reversed.

S stands for Swallow, which steps one perch directly forward or one perch directly away. It promotes to a Goose, which moves exactly two perches semi-diagonally forward or directly backward on the same file, or exactly two perches semi-diagonally away or directly near on the same rank. It bypasses any piece in its way. If it is captured, the promotion is undone.

Captured pieces are retained in hand and deployed at the player's discretion (except that they must have legal moves where dropped, Swallows may not be dropped in the same file as another unpromoted Swallow, and a Swallow cannot be dropped to give immediate mate). If the same position occurs thrice within a game, with the same pieces in hand, the player starting the sequence must make a different move. A player wins when they capture their opponent's Phoenix, the opponent makes an illegal move (except in casual play), or the opponent resigns. If the game ends in an impasse (i.e. no mate is possible), players tot up their currently-deployed non-Phoenix pieces as follows: Falcons and Eagles score five points each; Quail, Pheasants, Cranes, Owls, Swallows, and Geese scone one point each. If both players have twenty or more points, or neither do, than the game is a draw. Otherwise, the player with more than twenty points wins.