@monorail I know you've heard of chess and probably shogi, but I'm surprised you haven't heard of shatranj! Xiangqi I'm more expecting people to not know, since it's pretty unknown in the west.
Shatranj is the game that is commonly considered the common ancestor of chess, shogi, xiangqi, janggi, and related games. It's a descendant of chaturanga, also called catur, if you've heard of that one?
-F
@monorail Xiangqi and janggi are very similar games, sometimes called chinese chess and korean chess respectively. They are closer to chess in concept than to shogi, since they lack the drop rule and have more long-range pieces. The difference between the two is that in xiangqi, the board is bisected by a 'river' that affects how pieces can move, and in janggi there is no such river. They're well worth trying, I think, though we've never found anyone to try playing them against.
-F
@Felthry i have not but that's interesting!