1 comments about The Chess & Checkers Pack.

1. I wasn't expecting much from the chess set, but the plastic pieces were disappointing: they're just checkers with symbols printed on them (e.g., a silhouette of a pawn, of a king, of a queen, etc.). The board is stored folded into four pieces and doesn't stay flat when unfolded.
   
   The book is very short and not particularly helpful either.

No comments about Mancala Games (Folk Games Series).

2 comments about 101 Checker Puzzles MENSA.

1. Solving problems of the type presented in this book is a great way to improve your game. This book helps enormously with (a) categorized problems according to game stage (opening, middle, end game) and (b) problems shown in order of difficulty. The problems are excellent, challenging, and fun to solve. Highly recommended as an adjunct to study with other books such as Pask and Reinfeld.

   My only criticism is small: The fold-out checker board at the end, an obvious but silly marketing gimmick, isn't even square!

   (Pike's other problem book, Little Giant Encyclopedia of Checker Puzzles, is also excellent.)




2. At 144 pages of thick high quality paper for only $7.95 retail in 2000, this book is a great value. The SPIRAL binding is great, because the book lies open flat to any page, and the binding never cracks with use and age. Any concerns that a traditional glue binding is better than spiral are unfounded, even backwards: spiral is better.
   
   It is hard for a chess player to adapt to the checkers notational scheme. I presume that experienced checkers players have learned it and therefore like it. But the cause of checkers is harmed by this needless initial learning curve, as it acts like a barrier to entry.
   The answers/solutions in the back of the book are written in paragraph format, with the moves buried in the text. This loosely reminds me of the silly verbal notation used by Philidor and Staunton in their now ancient chess books.
   
   But the answer explanations are good. Further each puzzle is introduced with a sentence or two that quickly orients the reader, and I found I like those sentences. At the bottom under each puzzle there is a upside-down italicized hint, that I also like. The eye does not accidently read these hints, and they are surprisingly well guaged to be helpful hints without being give-aways to the answer.
   
   The layout of the book is a little suboptimal. There is only one puzzle per page, each being 71 mm square. This left enuf room on the page for the correct first moves to the puzzle two pages earlier: but the extra space is instead left blank in the actual layout. This forces the reader to flip to the back to find the solution (disruptive and tedious).
   
   Each puzzle has a title above its two sentence introduction. Most titles tell which color in next to move: "White Paves a Winning Way", or "Black Makes White Turn Pale". But in some cases the reader must read the intro sentences to know which color is on-move, the diagrams are not decorated with that crucial info.
   
   My eyes find the kings and regular checker pieces look too similar to each other in the diagrams. Yes I can tell them apart, but it takes a bit of concentration to distinguish them that would be unnecessary with more distinctive icons.
   
   I wondered whether studying checkers puzzles would have any beneficial effects in how I might perform when studying chess puzzles. I now doubt there are any cross-over benefits.
   
   TABLE OF CONTENTS
   
   5 Introduction
   7 Description of Puzzle Format
   9 Early-Game Puzzles
   15 Middle-Game Puzzles
   41 Endgame Puzzles
   114 Answers
   134 Rules of Play
   138 Checkers Terminology
   140 Puzzle Index
   
   (I cannot tell whether the early-game puzzles are from games using the 3-Move balloting rules or the older somewhat out-of-favor GAYP rules.)
   (The puzzle index, page 140, is by puzzle title.)
   
   Robert Pike is a former Massachusetts state champ under the ACF.

No comments about Fantastic Book of Board Games.

No comments about The Official book of Pente: The Classic Game of Skill.

No comments about Trivial Conquest: The Smart Reference Source for Trivial Pursuit : The Board Game.

1 comments about Beyond Boardwalk and Park Place.

1. This book does an excellent job of making the game fun again! It puts a lot more skill into the game (rather than the old "land on something and buy it" characteristic of the original version).
   
   When I first got this book (when I was in college), two of us in the dorm tried to get our friend to play with the new rules. He wanted to play the old way, but we convinced him to play the new way. He won the game! The next day, he wanted to play the old way, but we convinced him to play with the new rules again, and he won again! The next day, HE came over asking us to play with the new rules!
   
   The only "optional" rules we use are to put in only HALF of taxes, housing assessments, etc., into the kitty (rounded up - so Luxury tax would pay $40 to the kitty and $35 to the bank), to keep the amount of money in circulation to a minimum. Possibly, to decrease the "blind luck" aspects, the kitty could be limited to an amount like $200 or $500, and the fifth and sixth railroad rents could remain at $200 (or maybe $250). Otherwise, six railroads is almost a guaranteed victory!
   
   We also created a few extra "go" cards (like sending yourself to jail). The main goal of any tweaks, like the changes listed in the book, should be to keep the element of skill high and the element of luck not as important.

No comments about Checkers Made Easy.