rule changes

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With some games, it can be as fun to break the rules as to follow them.

Pool: Years ago some friends and I went to a pool hall with only a dollar - enough for one game at a table that took quarters - but we wanted to stay longer than that. So we decided that the object should be to NOT get any of the balls in the pockets. Suddenly it was a cooperative effort - we relied on each other - and we kept the game alive for hours... (until the bartender caught on)

Chess: Someone told me they couldn't find all their chess pieces one day, so they grabbed a box of Pepperidge Farm "Chessmen" cookies and played with those. If you capture a piece you get to eat it. And apparently the famous chessmaster Bobby Fischer doesn't like to play for fun these days unless you randomize the back row; this variation is called Fischer Random Chess.

Tic-tac-toe: This is a game that begs to have its rules changed. You can start by not taking turns, then changing the goal, or changing the board, or playing with multiple boards (including used ones), or switching letters in the middle, or adding new letters, or giving the letters some higher meaning, and so on.

Terry Orlick likes to restructure games to make them less competitive - he has published these in a series of books about cooperative games and sports. In one of my favorite examples, he changes King of the Mountain from a competitive game where only one king can be on top to a cooperative game where as many people as possible try to fit on top - then it becomes challenging teamwork. I also came across a book called New Rules for Classic Games by R. Wayne Schmittberger, editor of Games magazine, in which he changes hundreds of games.

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