Today I’m taking a whack at redeeming some falsely-convicted fellas that got a bad rap back in the day. Now that we’re adults, I say they deserve a second chance. For one reason or another, they were played incorrectly or were widely misunderstood, so they fell away from playtime. If you had a board game stack in childhood like I did, these games always ended up on the bottom.
In defense of Checkers…
Why is Checkers remembered to be weak in strategy? I would wager it’s due to the Chess set that’s played on the some board and likely came bundled. Chess is a fascinating study all it’s own, but is a completely different game. Checkers does have a deep strategy, but it’s easy to miss during your childhood plays.
When I was young, I was told that I had to jump pieces. My response was, “That’s dumb.” So I didn’t play but that rule. But forced-jumping is where 100% of the strategy is in Checkers. The puzzle is, “How can I sacrifice one piece to take two or more?” From here, the possibilities open up and the race is on.
The checkerboard is immediately recognizable and the pieces just the same. There’s something pleasing about triple jumping an opponent’s pieces and watching dread melt their face. Checkers is a game where its catchphrase is a command — “King me!” And rightfully so, it feels downright regal to best your little cousin just because they overlooked a single move. And take note of that — a single error in Checkers can cost the game, so the pressure is high.
There’s something quite kinetically pleasing about checkers — especially with the resin pieces in Draughts. Similar to the legendary game “Go,” the clack of hard plastic on wood is a delightfully tactile experience. And at that, the game is elegant in it’s design. Even as abstract games go, checkers is minimalistic — all color indicates nothing more than differentiation, and there are no forms beyond circles in squares.
In defense of Scrabble…
For most, Scrabble was delayed to be played, if ever. Most games can be played with knowledge of simple counting, yet Scrabble has a different requirement — The ability to spell. Thus, many children didn’t play Scrabble, and rightfully so. I’d argue that the game is for adults.
You likely missed out on the bluffing mechanic in Scrabble. Yes, a bluffing mechanic, akin to that in Poker and other deception games. As per the rules, all words are legal play if you don’t get caught bluffing. It’s required to have a predefined dictionary to reference in the event of a challenge, but the official one is the Scrabble Dictionary.
The rules for bluffing are simple. If someone challenges a word most recently played by an opponent, the game clock stops and the challenger refers to the dictionary. If the word is absent, the word is removed and the bluffer loses a turn. If the word is present, the word stays and the challenger loses a turn. Simple.
It’s a romp to play a fake word for big points and get away with it. It’s even more fun to spot your opponent’s suspicion and then try to convince them it’s real with a fake definition. On top of that, it’s hilarious when someone spells a word that seems fake, despite the player knowing for a fact that it’s real, but everyone else calls “bullshit.” Do you see what I mean?
In defense of Risk…
It says, “The game of global domination” right on the box, how could that not be fun? Many people realize that Risk is weak in comparison to the many other area-control war games on the market. There’s a lot of luck in the dice rolls and territory cards. Also, the game runs super slow and isn’t engaging when it’s not your turn. Okay, maybe Risk was pretty bad.
Of course, Risk has far more randomness than its competitors. Despite having no randomness, not many people like Diplomacy because it’s a cut-throat slog. But even Diplomacy can be fun if you play it correctly.
The fun in Risk is off the board. It really requires a full table — All six players. Crack open a couple sodapops and start forming alliances. Risk is at it’s best when making negotiations. Declare war, betray friends and for the love of god can you please stop turtling in Australia?
