While looking for things to do, I had the brilliant idea that certain boardgames could be played online, e.g. ones where nobody keeps anything physically hidden from anybody. Chess and the game “Go” fit this description and have been played online for years.
Pictured here is a rare variant of chess called “Chess4,” which I bought at the thrift store years ago. (My player’s side is out of shot on the board and on the small monitor). The idea was that I would point my webcam (which is not visible, but it’s in the laptop) at the game board, have 3 friends state their moves using the grid, and then I would move their pieces for them.
Possibly due to inaccurate lighting, my friends could not see the chessboard well enough to play. My friend Adam made a Google Sheets sheet we could make our moves on.
After an hour, only a few moves had been made. It was hard to find a time when the four of us could meet (online) again due to the pandemic, so we decided to continue the game by making our moves on the sheet and to Facebook chat whenever we had the chance rather than in real time. This was kind of like historical games of chess played by snail mail or telegram.
Everyone is busier these days as normal services resume, but thanks to the unique time-frame of these games, my friends and I can enjoy them for many years to come, regardless of how busy we get.
