Strategy Games

Playing strategy games can teach concentration and logical thinking. One must look for the best move and consider the opponent's response. Some moves may require looking several moves ahead, for a real exercise in logical, strategic thinking.

When selecting a game, there is a simple way to judge how much strategic depth and thinking effort it will require. Just estimate how many possible choices of moves you have each turn.

• Chutes and Ladders: Roll the dice, and you have 1 choice.

• Bridge (or other card game): 13 cards in hand (or less) = 13 possibilities.

• Backgammon: 15 pieces × 2 dice = 30 possibilies. (But you can get some math exercise if you try to minimize your opponent's chances of getting a good roll.)

• Chess: 16 pieces × 8 locations to move to (rough average) = 256 choices.

• Go: 19 × 19 places to put a piece = 361

Chess

Everyone knows chess.

One book stands above all other chess books: Winning Chess , by Chernev and Reinfeld. This book teaches patterns: strategic situations which you learn to look for through a series of practical exercises. This book will make you a better chess player, and teach you how to look for patterns, so you will be better at playing other games and problem-solving as well. (There are several books called "Winning Chess"; make sure you get the one by Chernev and Reinfeld.)

Tired of Chess? Try some Chess Variants such as Avalanche Chess or Progressive Chess.

Go

Go has the deepest strategy of any abstract board game, but with very simple rules.

Shogi

Japanese Chess. When you capture a piece, it can be dropped on the board as part of your army later.

XiangQi

Chinese Chess. The cannons have to jump over another piece before they can capture.

History

Board games can complement your study of history. Shogi is Japanese. Go and XiangQi are chinese. Tablut and Hnefetafl were played by the Vikings. Many varieties of Mancala are popular in Africa. Madagascar has a unique game of its own called Fanorona.

Modern classics

Germany has a thriving gaming industry, which has produced classics such as Settler of Catan and Carcassone. Two games I am particularly fond of are Trax and Zertz.

I play a lot on Richard's PBeM Server, and Play-By-eMail server for abstract board games.