Merry games at the table

When you play a game you get to know each other. People who have never met can soon become friends when playing a game together. Here are some games for long winter evenings that will also add to your fun when you sit together in a holiday chalet or elsewhere. Also, by way of surprise, two games which you can play with this book in front of you…

What on earth is the point of having great ideas and suggestions if the caravan or boarding house in which you are staying has no playing board or pieces? Never mind, you can draw a game on a large piece of paper. It may even be possible to use a check tablecloth for the purpose. For the pieces you can use bottle tops and stick on some colored paper, or buttons of different colors, or beans, or pennies, or... As you can see, resourceful players can always find a solution and really do not need a polished wooden board to play on.

In the chapter Beach games, for example, you will find solitaire, fox and geese, siege, kalaha, hus and yote. Each of these games will give you an amusing evening. Let us have a look at the well known game of draughts and four different ways to play it. For the "real" game you need a draughts board with 100 squares, for most variables a chess board (64 squares). And, of course, the required number of black and white pieces.

Draughts
For this game you need an ordinary draughts board plus 20 white pieces for one player and 20 black for the other. The board is placed between the two players in such a way that the square at the bottom left is a black one. Both players place their 20 pieces on the nearest four rows of black squares. White starts and during the game each player moves only one piece at a time and only to another black square. The pieces can only be moved forward and not backward. When a piece meets a piece belonging to the enemy, behind which there is an open black square, he can take that piece by jumping over it and remove it from the board. If this is not done, then the opposing player can "huff and remove the piece concerned. You may take both forward and backward. If for some tactical reason it is better for the counter-player to be taken, then he may demand this and the player at fault will have to retract his false move. When there are simultaneously several opportunities to take, then the way to take most pieces must be used.

It is the aim of the game to reach the other end of the board, where a "king" can be made. When a player has reached the other end with one of his pieces, then the counter-player must "crown" this piece by placing one of the pieces he has won on top of it. A crowned piece has certain privileges. It can move diagonally in any direction and take whatever comes in its way, provided there is an empty square behind the piece on which it will land. The king itself can be taken in the same way as a normal piece.

The player who loses all his pieces is the loser. Each player will, of course, want to get as many crowned pieces as possible in order to have a stronger fighting position. As soon as a player has either lost all his pieces or cannot make any legitimate move with the pieces he has left because he is hemmed in, the game is over.

Below we are giving you some variations on the game of draughts which are popular throughout Europe.

Playing draughts the French way
This is played on a chess board and 12 pieces of each color are used, starting on the black squares of the first three lines at each end of the board. These may only be moved forward, but, remarkably enough, may only take backward. Pieces which have penetrated to the starting line of the opposite player are crowned and can then move and take both forward and backward.

Playing draughts the Italian way
Once again we play with two sets of 12 pieces on a chess board. Again these pieces may only be moved forward. The variation is that crowned pieces can only be taken by crowned pieces (or kings) and not by ordinary pieces.

Playing draughts the Turkish way
Each player has 16 pieces, which he places on the second and third rows of the chess board on both the white and the black squares. The nearest row remains open. Each piece may be moved one square at a time either forward, to the left or to the right, but never diagonally. Taking is only done forward or to either side. It is also possible to take several pieces in one move, as long as there is an open square between each of the two pieces. A piece which has arrived at the starting point of the other player is crowned king. Kings can move and take forward, backward and to either side.

The game is over when a player has taken all the pieces of the other player or has fixed them in such a way that they cannot move.

Playing losing draughts
This is played on a draughts board, in the same arrangement and with the same number of pieces, but with a reversed purpose. Instead of winning the pieces of the opposing party, each player tries to lose his pieces as quickly as possible by forcing the other player to take. If a player overlooks an opportunity to take, then this must be pointed out to him.

Blockade
Many games have developed from the game of draughts. The game of Blockade is played on a chess board with two sets of 12 pieces, each of which can move forward or backward.

The art of the game is to surround the pieces of the other player one by one. When a piece is surrounded, it is considered "caught" and is removed from the game. The player who has collected all the pieces of the other party is the winner.

Cat and mouse
This game is also played on a chess board. The four white squares of the nearest row are occupied by white draughts pieces: the mice. The other player places a black piece, representing the cat, on any square before them. The aim is to move the mice forward in such a way that the cat cannot move. The cat, however, tries to break through the row of mice and reach their starting point. Each player can make one move at a time and no pieces are taken.

It is in the cat's interest to stay as close as possible to the mice in order to take immediate advantage of an opening. The mice should always try to repair their straight line. The cat may go forward or backward, the mice may only go forward.

Mill game
The "battlefield" for this game, which is very popular with children, can quickly be drawn on a piece of cardboard. We use draughts discs, but in a case of emergency, black and white buttons are equally suitable.

Each player receives nine pieces, either black or white. During the game the pieces are placed on the points on the board, at which lines intersect or form a corner.

If a player succeeds in placing three of his pieces in a row, then he has built a mill and may remove a piece which is in his way and which belongs to the opposite player. This piece must not form a part of a mill which is already complete. The pieces are moved in turn. This can best be done at the ends of the intersecting lines. In order to win, it is essential to make well-planned moves right from the very beginning.

One should try to make mills in two directions, so that the opposite player has great difficulty in preventing the building of a mill. The best thing is if a player can succeed in forming a "variable" mill, which means that five pieces are placed on two parallel lines in such a way that the opening of one mill means also the closing of another.

If one has no spare pieces left, then pieces already on the board can be used, moving one piece at a time. Now try to form new mills or prevent the other player from building his. If a player has only three pieces left, he is allowed to "jump". He can place each piece on any random spot.

If a player has only two pieces left he has lost. In order to get a variable mill and keep it, it may be wise for tactical reasons to allow the opposing player to retain four pieces, so that he cannot jump freely and destroy your mill. In any case, the other player can be blockaded. If he cannot make another move, then he has lost. Once you have decided on this tactic, it is better to bear it in mind right from the beginning and not to change. After all, once the mills of your opponent are built, they will start grinding...