Classic Games Compendium

During on eof my last visits to the local toy shop, I saw this board games box. A Classic Games Compendium, with "over 100 classic family games." That is a lot of games for a single box, maybe too many. I mean, is the rulebook as big as a dictionary? And what if it is in many languages? I can see just on the cover checkers, chess, dominoes and backgammon. My grandmother had a special board like this, with many games included in it, but a handful, not a hundred. It might be practical, but I kind of prefer to have a good set of each.

Backgammon, Checkers and Chess Board

 I took this picture a few weeks ago, when I saw this board through a shop window. As you can see, it is a backgammon board, but there are also checkers and chess pieces. So I suspect the other side of the board allows you to play the other games. My grandma had a similar board, that was gigantic. One side was for chess, the other was for various board games. We loved it. I like the idea of a single set for various classic board games, especially when it looks fancy like this one. It looks as an elegant piece of furniture and gives a room character. If money and space were no objection, I'd buy it.

Checkers

During one of our last time with Wolfie's maternal grandparents, our son found a game of checkers (or jeu de dames as we call it in French) and he received his first lesson in the game. I think he got the gist of it. I did not play much checkers when I was a child. My brothers and preferred chess, even then. Checkers was more a game played at school, during break time when it was too rainy to go out, or near the end of the year, when we had lots of free time. I was never a big fan of checkers, that said I think it's good that Wolfie can learn to play it and hopefully it will develop his interest in other games as well.

Damier en bois

Photo prise à Crich Tramway Village dans le Derbyshire. Il y avait un sentier pour se promener, un peu en retrait du village lui-même, et on y trouvait des sculptures en bois ainsi que des jeux, dont ce jeu de dames. Je trouve que c'est bien pensé: de quoi s'amuser en se reposant entre deux séances de marche dans un sentier entouré de boisés. Et les dames, c'est juste assez simple et les parties sont assez brèves pour pouvoir en jouer une de manière impromptue sans que l'on néglige la promenade ou les autres activités du village (lequel est pas mal mon gros coup de coeur de nos dernières vacances dans ce coin-là). Je n'ai jamais été un grand amateur de dames (j'ai toujours préféré les échecs), mais en plein air comme ça, c'est peut-être un jeu idéal.