Matt asked:


I recently purchased a chess set from House of Staunton. The pieces are made of ebony (black) and boxwood (white). I’m having a tough time figuring out what type of wood will look good with the pieces. Do I want an ebony board as well so both the board Buy Generic Drugs and pieces will be black and white? Will a walnut and maple board look okay? Thanks!

Lance Hemenway asked:


Mahjong is a rediculously popular game. Actually, that is a tad of an understatement. Invented in China, Mahjong is a game that entwines Buy Generic Viagra Online skill, strategy and luck in a unique way. Akin to other games, like dominoes, Mahjong utilizes the use of titles which are combined in attempts to complete the player’s hand. Sound simple? It isn’t. Sound addictive? Oh, it is.

Mahjong was a cool pastime before the Internet was even invented. Come to think of it, Mahjong was a pretty cool game even before the car was invented. In fact, mahjong was so well-liked by the Chinese folks, and later the globe, that it managed to enjoy a lifespan that was longer than perhaps any other game in the history of the world. Chinese myth tells us that Mahjong was created by Confucius himself in, or round, 500 B.C. Now, whether or not this is accurate, is anybody’s guess. But it does lend a certain air of sophistication, to any game, to suggest that Confucius himself while away the hours playing it, in between bouts of delivering Chinese philosophy.

But watch out.. With the creation of the Internet, and much later the online video game, Mahjong has become more popular than even Confucius would have thought possible. The chance to play games, especially classic games, in the comfort of one’s own home has caused a immense resurgence in many older games. Games like Mahjong, thanks to the World Wide Web, are now reaching people, and age groups, that it never could in the past.

A moderately new mahjong game, released by Jenkatgames dot com, entitled Café Mahjongg, combines an exciting, new-age sophistication to the ancient puzzle game. Basically, the core elements of Mahjong are completely intact. It is just that now the game is intertwined with a pleasant coffee shop motif. The tile patterns are prearranged into amusing shapes that complement the coffee theme. As play goes along, the player will advance from level to level, revealing new boards, and new challenges.

Café Mahjongg manages to be successful in an area where very few of the recently re-imagined classic games can. Café Mahjongg allows players to feel the thrill and energy of a video game, while providing the essential elements of the classic game it represents. Mahjong may be popular, but never was really reaching a massive audience like it is now.

And while numerous other games like solitaire, dominos, and various classic card games have all made the leap to the online game market, none have done so as brilliantly as mahjong’s transformation into Café Mahjongg. Because, after all, a classic game is still a classic game. And the utmost achievement a game designer can hope for when re-creating these legendary games, would be the intelligence to not alter, or change any of the key elements that made the game such a classic to begin with. Jenkatgames has done a great job of not turning Confucius’ favorite pastime into “new Coke.”

Mahjong has managed to stick around for several centuries, and it will no doubt be around for several more. To those of you already been bitten by the Mahjong bug, this comes as old, old news. But to those of you unfamiliar with China’s greatest pastime I implore you to take some time today and play a game or two. It sure beats the tar out of whatever is on Television

Gene Marshall asked:


The backgammon game is one leisure activity that has been enjoyed by millions of people from around the world for thousands of years. It is hard to believe that the backgammon set we know today has been in existence for some five thousand years. The backgammon board with its twenty-four alternately colored and triangular-shaped divisions, the dice and the cup used to shake the dice are not inventions of some Victorian toy manufacturer, but a legacy from the various earliest days of recorded history. Certainly the materials used to make the sets have changed – plastic has replaced wood, bone and clay, or in Internet backgammon, a virtual board and pieces have replaced their physical equivalents, but the basic ideas of how to play backgammon have demonstrated a remarkable endurance over the centuries.

From its beginnings in the lands that we now call Iraq and Iran, the ancient empires spread the game of backgammon around the world. The popularity of the Roman version of backgammon, or tabula as it was known, appears to have been a key stage in the transference of backgammon from its Middle-Eastern heartland into Europe. With the European settlement of the American continent, and African and Asian countries backgammon was well on the way to becoming the internationally known game that we know today.

So what has been the impact of online backgammon on the games and its players? Certainly without doubt the world of backgammon has been radically changed by the introduction of Internet backgammon. However, the effects have not manifested themselves in any changes in the backgammon rules. Backgammon is played to the same rules on the Internet as it has been played in the physical game. Internet gaming sites have even brought to a wider public some of the versions of backgammon Buy Generic pharmacy played around the world, for example, the Turkish version of the game. The skills needed to play backgammon online are precisely the same as those required in traditional offline play. Even the many opportunities provided for backgammon gambling do not represent a departure from the way the game has commonly been played but simply their transferal to a new technological format.

For all the aspects of the game that Internet backgammon has left unchanged, it has also produced major changes worthy of note. Today anyone who has an Internet connection is able to download backgammon software and start playing. There is no need even to go out and buy a book to learn how to play since backgammon rules are displayed and explained on these sites. In addition, the possibilities of playing backgammon against a computer have presented many new opportunities for learning how to play the game that have not been available in previous generations. Also, online backgammon has made the game available at times and places to suit every player’s convenience. There is no need to call round any more for a friend to come and play backgammon with you, or to go and see if a game is available at the local café, whenever you feel like playing you are able to do so and you need go no further than your own home or office to take part.