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One classic two-player game dates back to sixthcentury India: chess. The game made its way to Persia, then the Arab world, then Europe— and finally to my Calgary classroom, where I taught it to scads of students. With a little patience and practice, hundreds of eight-year-olds would gobble up this elegant game of war over the years.
Many other board games have stood the test of time. Chinese checkers dates back to— not China— but Germany in 1892. Some, such as backgammon, checkers, and Go, have roots in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, or China.
My son lives in Shanghai, and his wife plays mah-jong with her family and friends. Their games are raucous, with snacks, drinks, trash talk, and gambling. Lots of players own a mechanized table that shuffles the tiles and“ deals” them for a fresh round.
A favourite all over the world, mah-jong is a 200-year-old rummy-style game for four players. Each player arranges tiles, maybe on a rack similar to Scrabble, and tries to assemble a complete set of tile combinations. Just as there are different ways to spell“ mah-jong,” there are different ways to play it.
China has at least twenty regional variations, and there are specific rules in Japan and Singapore.
North America has its own popular mah-jong style, which uses most of the same tiles as Asian mah-jong, and adds a tile-trading intro called the Charleston. Each player must purchase an annual card that illustrates which combinations are legit for that particular year. Look for neighbourhood lessons or clubs or learn online.
You can find a game for any situation, whether you’ re gathering with young children or folks your own age— games for any number of players, quiet or boisterous, speedy or slow. Did you know there are board game cafés? If you borrow extra card tables and game sets, you can hold a cribbage tournament right at home. Organize a general games afternoon: Parcheesi at one table, kaiser at another, and Mexican train dominoes at a third. And don’ t forget snakes and ladders, which never gets old!
Sheila Bean is a retired Calgary public school teacher. During COVID-19 isolation, she and her husband survived on a steady diet of gin rummy and Five Crowns, a rummy game that uses a special deck.
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