Ready or not winter is upon us. The hobbies and sports of summer months are long gone. For some people that can mean restlessness or even depression. To chase away the feeling of “blah” this winter I have been dusting off some old classic board games out of my closet. Here is a list of my five top strategy board game picks in no particular order:
1. Chess – I have always had a love
for this game. There is a reason it is called “the game of kings”.
Medieval kings would learn to play chess to teach themselves critical
thinking skills. Several schools around the United States and
internationally have implemented and funded chess programs for their
students for the same reason. Chess can be a humbling experience and
from it I learned sportsmanship and the value of defeat. Now, as an
adult many years after learning the basic rules I think everyone can
have fun and learn something from chess.
2. Checkers (also called Draughts) –
I started playing checkers around the same time in my childhood as
chess. Why? Because it was far easier to convince other people to
play checkers. Apparently, it is less intimidating to play a game
with 24 pieces that move exactly the same than to play a game with 32
pieces that move half a dozen different ways. Check out this quote
from researchers at the University of Alberta in 2007, “The game of
checkers has roughly 500 billion billion possible positions. The task
of solving the game, determining the final result in a game with no
mistakes made by either player, is daunting. Since 1989, almost
continuously, dozens of computers have been working on solving
checkers, applying state-of-the-art artificial intelligence
techniques to the proving process. … checkers is now solved:
Perfect play by both sides leads to a draw.” The possible positions
in checkers are five times ten to the twentieth power. It may seem a
little more intimidating now that you know the math but trust me it's
FUN!
3. Backgammon – Backgammon uses dice.
Is it a game of chance or a game of skill? Backgammon is perhaps the
only game to have been proven as a game of skill in a United States
court. Oregon vs. Barr is a 1982 court case where Alex Barr was
accused of promoting gambling by promoting Backgammon. The expert
witness for Barr, professional Backgammon player Paul Magriel, said
it best: “"Game theory, however, really applies to games with
imperfect knowledge, where something is concealed, such as poker.
Backgammon is not such a game. Everything is in front of you. The
person who uses that information in the most effective manner will
win."
4. Go – Go is a Chinese game that is
somewhere around 2500 years old. The name of the game in Chinese
means roughly “the encircling game”. The game has seen some
popularity outside of Asia due to the prominence of the Japanese
Anime “Hikaru No Go” about a young boy who is on his way to being
a professional Go player. However, the game remains an Asian
dominated mind sport. As a result, you will likely not find a Go set
at the corner store. However, the game can be played with a
checkerboard and some tokens (called “stones” in the game), so
suitable replacements are fairly easy to find.
5. Shogi – Sometimes called “Japanese
Chess”. I discovered this game when I was experiencing severe
burnout with chess several years ago. A friend asked me to play a
different game with him and since then I have been hooked. This is
probably the most difficult game on this list for one reason. The
pieces you play with are all on similar tiles. The only way to tell
some of them apart is the different Japanese characters written on
the tiles. If you can't read Japanese your brain can get really
twisted and confused by this game. A form of culture shock rarely
explored.