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In reply to Mark Thompson's recent and welcomed comment. Mark, yes, other setups were experimented with. The first was as you suggested. But since western pieces could advantageously exchange themselves for Shogi pieces the game was much more volatile. Thus the shift to the cultures starting off facing each other. A second variation had a Gold General on D2 and F2 and a Silver General on E2 (this was mirrored for Blue). Western pieces were also arranged different. In that setup, blue had a hard time if red played a certain opening. In fact, it seemed that red could almost win by force. The posted setup neutralizes red's big opening advantage. I think there will be a pre-set for Shanghai Palace Chess in the near future. Also, Larry Smith has expressed interest in helping with a ZRF for Zillions. I think that players who give this game a try will find it strategically and tactically challenging. There are opening patterns, traps, combinations... In response to an earlier comment comparing the making of Shanghai Palace Chess to being somewhat like trying to make a beautiful woman by 'combining all the best qualities of a beautiful blonde, a beautiful brunette, and a beautiful redhead into one woman' [and this was stated in a negative tone] But give me the jpegs of those women and I can use a photo/paint progam to... well, anyway I bet I could get one heck of a darn nice image.