In previous parts of this tutorial I’ve written about the basics of Othello’s strategy, quiet and loud moves and about starting the game. If you already know all this and you’ve played a dozen or tens games, you might have noticed one thing. The moves made at the edge of the board have a huge impact on victory or defeat. In the next lesson we will discuss the edge play.
Continue reading “Othello tutorial, p.4 – Playin’ on the edge!”
In my previous posts on draughts variants I described diagonal draughts, orthogonal draughts, draughts on enlarged boards and “twisted” draughts. But still I’m far from describing all checkers variants. The next chapter of this story is a game of Towers (called Bashni) and modern game called Laska.
Have you ever heard about Backgammon? Even if you do not know the rules, maybe you just know what it is. A game with dice, played on board with “teeth” on which players move their numerous pieces. This game is really extraordinary, so it’s good to know its rules and rich history.
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?”
It is believed that popular game of Ludo is very old, but is it? It was patented in 1986, but it was a modern variant of really old game called Pachisi. And I must tell you this older game is more strategic and has a unique, ancient nature.
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”
I already described 16 draughts games – 7 types of diagonal draughts, 3 variants of orthogonal draughts and 6 variants of draughts on increased boards. But I’m, still far from describing all variant of draughts. Even if we take only the game on the 64-square board with international (brazilian) rules there is still a space to invent new variants. You can just change the initial setting of pieces, board orientation, moves direction or goal of the game. Below I describe several games with such twists.
Continue reading “Twisted checkers – Diagonal, Corner, One-way and Giveaway Draughts”
I described many different types of draughts (checkers) stressing that draughts is not one game. It’s a family of games with common features! In compare to draughts Chess seem to be a single, complete and polished game. But… it only seems to be. In fact there are many chess games which grown in parallel with the so-called classical chess. Understanding the common characteristics of chess games will be easy if you look at the ancestor of these games – the Indian game of Chaturanga.
Continue reading “Chaturanga – progenitor of the chess family”
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”
I wrote about 64-square draughts variants and about three games from orthogonal draughts family. Every time I mentioned that “draughts” is not one game. It’s a group of games with some common features. So far I described only games played on a 64-square board, although with very different rules. Now it’s time to present games on larger boards with 80 squares (8×10), 100 squares (10×10) and even 144 squares (12×12).
Bona Ludo 