01
Never played before
Learn with a coach
Play a gentle opponent that will not punish you for thinking. Ask at any point and the coach marks a square on the board and tells you, in one sentence, why it is the move.
Play
Sit down and play
If you have never seen a shax board before, start at the top. You will be playing inside ten minutes, and nothing here assumes you know anything.
02
You know the rules
Play to win
No hints, no take-backs, and an opponent that reads several moves ahead and will build an irmaan on you the moment you leave it a square.
Opponent
Holds a plan for a turn or two and punishes an obvious blunder. You will have to stop leaving lines half-open and start counting the moves you have left.
Stop giving pieces away
03
Two people, one table
Pass the phone
The closest thing to the real game: one board between two people, passed back and forth the way it is passed around a circle of onlookers.