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... |