Chess
Chess a game which is some thousand years old.
It is especially popular for it's complexity.
The world organization of chess players is the FIDE
All you need is:
- two players
- chessboard with figures
- optional watch
There are a variety of different pieces, each with a variety of different moves. The most important is the king. A position where the king could be captured is called check; a player can never move his king into and must always rescue his king from such a position. If he can't, he is checkmated and loses.
The most powerful piece is the queen. The queen can move in a straight line in any direction unless blocked by another piece.
In contrast, rooks can move in a straight line only in non-diagonal directions, and bishops can move in a straight line only in diagonal directions.
The knight moves by 'jumping' in an l-shaped pattern, 2 squares in any non-diagonal direction and then one square perpindicular.
There are a lot of variants of chess: timed chess, three or four player versions, the usual drinking games...
*See also: