When I first played Shogatsu, I thought it might have been a very nice Ishido clone but for a certain laziness in programming. For unlike the original, you can put stones everywhere, without any restriction. Therefore there is a simple strategy to fill the board and empty the pouch every time, and if that is what you try, it is more painting by numbers than playing a game.
But Shogatsu should not be seen as an Ishido clone, but as a variant. If you just try to empty the pouch, it is pointless, but if you try to max to maximize your score, it becomes a completely different thing. Thus, while Taktix and Hex Jump were implementations of well-known concepts, Shogatsu brought in a new idea, which was later continued by other programmers.
Shogatsu (正月) means New Year
in Japanese.
| Games by Alan Meiss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hex Jump |  |
EGA | Peg Solitaire | 90 |
| Shogatsu | |
ASCII | Ishido | |
| Taktix | |
Ataxx | 91 | |
