Why do people love Contract Bridge? Because it’s so logical, elegant and strategic. And why do people love Poker? Because its surprising, risky and unpredictable. Now imagine there’s a card game that has features and benefits of Bridge and Poker. This game is called Oh Hell and you just have to give it a try.
Continue reading “Oh Hell! Somewhere between Contract Bridge and Poker”
Summer holidays are coming! This means a lot of spare time for parties, beer, family barbecues and other pleasures like… games! But you need a right game, well suited for playing with friends. Kimbo is just perfect. It’s a contemporary game, though a bit forgotten and worth the reminder. Continue reading “Kimbo – put up your fences and go around others”
In previous parts of my Othello tutorial I wrote on strategy basics and quiet moves. This is very important in the middlegame but in this part I’ll tell you something about starting the game.
Continue reading “Othello tutorial, p. 3 – How to begin well and not end badly?”
I’ve already described Camelot – game excellent in many respects. However story of Camelot does not end here. This game has many variants, with boards of different sizes and with varied number of pieces. And there are Camelot variants for 4 players, more strategic than tactic! Let me introduce you to this games.
Continue reading “Chivalry, Cam, Camette and other Camelot variants”
I have already wrote about perfect game of Teeko. It’s rules are simple, but it requires complex strategies. And if you played Teeko and it seems too easy for you, you can always try more advanced variant of this game called… well… Teeko Advanced. It can be played with a regular Teeko set, but modified rules create new opportunities and traps.
Continue reading “Teeko Advanced – extension of John Scarne’s greatest work”
My article on Reversi and Othello was quite popular. I know some people found it because they were looking for information on Othello strategy and tactics. These people already know how to play, but they don’t know know how to win.
Othello is one of my favorite board games. I spent some time playing, learning strategies and tactics and analyzing my own mistakes. I want to share this knowledge in series of articles. Here’s the first one.
Continue reading “How to win at Othello? Part 1 – Strategy basics, stable discs and mobility”
Recently I wrote that Chess and Checkers are two very different games with no common roots. Despite this, there were people who tried to merge this games and results were fascinating. One of those people was George Swinnerton Parker (1866-1952), who created a fantastic game of Camelot. It’s not popular today, but believe me – it’s an underestimated jewel of board games.
If you are looking for a relaxing but not too easy game to play with friends, Malefiz is a great choice. Unfortunately, the basic variant is for 4 players only. What to do if you gather a larger group of 5 or 6 people? No problem. There’s a variant on a larger board!
Continue reading “Malefiz for 6 players”
Teeko is a wonderful game, although today is almost forgotten. Too bad. Not only the game is interesting, but also its creator – John Scarne. He was a prominent expert on gaming, gambling, and card manipulations. He knew both the techniques of cheating on mathematical issues related to games. He was earning money as a magician, but because of his extensive knowledge we can call him “The Wizard of Games”.
Continue reading “Teeko – a game and a masterpiece of John Scarne, the Wizard of Games”
Earlier I have described basic variants of Draughts and by the way I explained that draughts (checkers) is not one game. Draughts is a huge family of games with some common rules. In most draughts games pieces move diagonally, but there are also variations where pieces move in straight lines (orthogonally). Today I would like to show you three variants of orthogonal draughts – Turkish Draughts, Croda and Dameo.
Continue reading “Orthogonal draughts on 8×8 board – Turkish Draughts, Croda and Dameo”
Bona Ludo 