Checkers.

The game that pre-dated the video gaming craze.

Checkers is the American name for a test of skill played on a flat checkered board with opposing black and white pieces. The English name for the boarded combat is draughts, pronounced “drafts.” An earlier form of checkers called alquerque, meaning to move or advance your forces against mine, was mentioned in Middle Eastern literature over 1,000 years ago. The militant Romans, Greeks and Egyptians had their versions, and a 4,000 year-old checkered board has been found in the ruins of an ancient fortress in modern-day Iraq.

Question #1: Why has the game been so wildly successful for so many years?

Answer #1: It is a battle game, probably the first of the battle games, and all Knights love battle games.

Question #2: Why has a battle board game been so successful for millennia?

Answer #2: You can resolve disputes without denting your armor.

Knight #1 addresses his opponent, Knight #2: “We can beat each other with clubs, wear ourselves out and ruin our new metal clothes, or we can play checkers and the winner wins. What say you?”

Knight #2 responds: “Flip you for color. White goes first.”

“You lose.” Knight #1 gloats. “I’m white and I go first. Get ready for defeat, my worthily-clad but less-talented adversary.”

“My response, oh-loud-of-mouth,” Knight #2 exclaims loudly, “will be my sure and certain moves that shall amaze, mystify and befuddle your soon-to-be-captured pieces.”

That is probably how and why the game was invented. Metal pants are expensive, and most Knights and their bosses are pretty smart once they lift those visors and smile. It might be said that almost all modern board and electronic games are variations of checkers, in one form or another.

“Drats,” Knight #2 laments, “you have bested me with your white pieces.”

“Do you surrender,” Knight #1 demands, “to my rule of the kingdom of this checkered board?”

“Perhaps.” Knight #2 has a thoughtful look on his face. “But, no test of arms is determined by a single joust.”

“Well said.” Knight #1 rubs the metal covering his chin. “What then is your counter?”

“Two out of three games,” Knight #2 proposes, “on this brave checkered field to determine the true winner.”

“Agreed.” Knight #1 smashes the table with his malleted fist.

“But,” Kinght #2 proposes, “we flip again for choice of color?”

“Certainly,” Knight #1 sneers with braggadocio. “And, if chance would change my color, it will make my triumph even sweeter to have defeated you under both banners.”

The two Knights play into the night, munching bowls of popped corn brought by their faithful squires. In the morning, the combatants mount their rested steeds, raise their hands in salute and part well-met and soon to meet again over another game.

Why head for the lists and break all those good lances when a trial of strength of mind on the checkered board is more entertaining and far less straining?

Plus, the good ladies do prefer the sight of a Knight in shining armor on the home path, rather than a battered and rusted metal suit with a stuck visor hiding a frown.

“I win the toss,” Knight #2 pronounces, with renewed confidence on their next meeting. “I choose white, and I go first. Prepare for thy fate, oh ill-fated Knight #1, and pass the popcorn.”

Now, that’s a game worthy of time, test and friendly sport.

Grandpa Jim