1963_Sackson_022_January 02.jpg
Creator
Sid Sackson
Date
1963
Format
.jpg
Source
Box 1, Object 1, Sid Sackson collection
Item sets
Rights Statement
The Strong, Rochester, New York.
Full Metadata
1963_Sackson_022_January 02.jpg
Title
1963_Sackson_022_January 02.jpg
Creator
Sid Sackson
Date
1963
Type
image
Format
.jpg
Source
Box 1, Object 1, Sid Sackson collection
Language
English
Coverage
1963
Rights
The Strong, Rochester, New York.
transcription
WEDNESDAY 2 JANUARY 1963 2nd day - 363 days to come
LETTER FROM MARTIN GARDNER TO BOB ABBOTT — Oct. 22, 1962
- - - You've worked out a fine game (Matrix) but - - -
Whenever a board game involves complicated moves, it is impossible to get people to play it. Someone who wants the stimulation of a mathematical board game will take up checkers or chess because he knows he'll find other players, and because the games have a long tradition, literature, etc. If he wants to venture off the track a bit, there is go, Japanese chess, and so on. He'll try a new game only if it is very simple, and very novel. Hex for example. But even here, Parker's attempt to sell Hex was a dismal failure.
Complex games on the 8x8, with new pieces, are legion. Twenty years ago when I worked in the toy department at Marshall Fields, in Chicago, the store tried to push a beautiful game called Polygon. A girl trained by the inventor demonstrated it for two Xmas seasons. Results: nil. Like Matrix, it was essentially a type of Fairy Chess. Matrix may be, intrinsically, better than chess, but you'll never get anyone to play it. I'm putting it strongly, because I think you waste your talents when you work on this type of game.
I wonder if you realize how much thought has gone into the devising of unusual chess pieces? The list runs into the hundreds. Among the spookiest: (1) The rabbit: moves once per game, by spawning a square of other rabbits all around, then it vanishes. (2) The kibitzer: hops onto same square as enemy piece, cutting down its powers. (3) The Blinker: goes off board on one side, reappears on the other. And so on and so on. There are as many gimmicks for the board itself. Do you know about the turntable? The center four squares can be rotated at various times during the game. Then there is the time traveling piece that can go forward and backward along the game's time track. Fairy chess has its ardent devotees (even a periodical, the Fairy Chess Review, but the general public just isn't interested.
— — — — — — —
Another letter to Bob from Fred Galvin - 840 Algonquin Ave. St Paul 19, Minnesota
(Dated Oct. 14, 1922)
Mentions the game "Gops" or "goofspiel" (q.v.) taken from the book "GAMES AND DECISIONS" by Luce and Raiffa
"Gops" is a game of using cards for bidding on other cards. This is close to any independant original idea of mine - close enough so that my idea is superceded.
LETTER FROM MARTIN GARDNER TO BOB ABBOTT — Oct. 22, 1962
- - - You've worked out a fine game (Matrix) but - - -
Whenever a board game involves complicated moves, it is impossible to get people to play it. Someone who wants the stimulation of a mathematical board game will take up checkers or chess because he knows he'll find other players, and because the games have a long tradition, literature, etc. If he wants to venture off the track a bit, there is go, Japanese chess, and so on. He'll try a new game only if it is very simple, and very novel. Hex for example. But even here, Parker's attempt to sell Hex was a dismal failure.
Complex games on the 8x8, with new pieces, are legion. Twenty years ago when I worked in the toy department at Marshall Fields, in Chicago, the store tried to push a beautiful game called Polygon. A girl trained by the inventor demonstrated it for two Xmas seasons. Results: nil. Like Matrix, it was essentially a type of Fairy Chess. Matrix may be, intrinsically, better than chess, but you'll never get anyone to play it. I'm putting it strongly, because I think you waste your talents when you work on this type of game.
I wonder if you realize how much thought has gone into the devising of unusual chess pieces? The list runs into the hundreds. Among the spookiest: (1) The rabbit: moves once per game, by spawning a square of other rabbits all around, then it vanishes. (2) The kibitzer: hops onto same square as enemy piece, cutting down its powers. (3) The Blinker: goes off board on one side, reappears on the other. And so on and so on. There are as many gimmicks for the board itself. Do you know about the turntable? The center four squares can be rotated at various times during the game. Then there is the time traveling piece that can go forward and backward along the game's time track. Fairy chess has its ardent devotees (even a periodical, the Fairy Chess Review, but the general public just isn't interested.
— — — — — — —
Another letter to Bob from Fred Galvin - 840 Algonquin Ave. St Paul 19, Minnesota
(Dated Oct. 14, 1922)
Mentions the game "Gops" or "goofspiel" (q.v.) taken from the book "GAMES AND DECISIONS" by Luce and Raiffa
"Gops" is a game of using cards for bidding on other cards. This is close to any independant original idea of mine - close enough so that my idea is superceded.
Item sets
