Enter Your Reply The Comment You're Replying To Joe Joyce wrote on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 01:23 PM UTC:I received the following in an email from Dave in Michigan. I encourage people to both discuss and compete in this tournament. I'd also like to point out we do have a 'live' play option with Game Courier. ********************************************************************** I came up with an idea for a project, and I would like to solicit input and find potential players. It's a project that includes, but is not limited to, Chess variants. I would like to hold a competition that involves playing board games,specifically abstract strategy games, on the internet. There are some great sites out there hosting free games, and while playing on one of them (boardspace.net) an idea hit me, What I wanted to do was have a competition that spanned several games and a few web sites, which would prompt me to learn a few new games. So, I gave it some thought and came up with the following proposal. The Internet Abstract Games Decathlon The plan is to select 10 games playable on various internet sites that meet the following criteria. 1. Abstract Strategy Games 2. Free 3. Live play (i.e. no PBEM or turn based) 4. Rated. Players would play each of the 10 games over a set period of a few months, and try to get the highest rating possible. At the end of the set period, the ratings of the players would be used to compute a score and assign a number of points. The highest rating achieved would be worth 100 points. Other players would receive fractions of 100 based on how their rating compares to the max rating. So, the next question was what games to play? This is where it gets tricky. I looked around for appropriate sites, and found a few that were quite good, I especially liked Playok.com, Boardspace.net, and IGGameCenter.com. There were other sites that were excellent, but specialized in only one game. (e.g. Chess.com and clubxiangqi.com for those two games.) At this point, I decided to throw the question open to potential players. If this sounds like fun to you, what games would you like to play? To get the conversation started, I picked some of the most popular games played at the sites I liked. Based on that, here's a list. This list is just a starting point. Please, feel free to suggest games you would prefer, or say that you absolutely hate one or more of the games below. Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) http://playok.com Shogi (Japanese Chess) http://playok.com Hive http://boardspace.net Zertz http://boardspace.net Palago http://boardspace.net Fanorona http://boardspace.net Hex http://iggamecenter.com Crosslet http://iggamecenter.com Havannah http://iggamecenter.com Connect4 http://iggamecenter.com Again, I emphasize this is NOT the list we will play. It's a starting point for discussion, based on what games are popular at these sites. I want suggestions from potential players. For my part, I would throw out Connect4, and possibly a couple of others I am not familiar with, and add in Chess and/or another Chess variation. (Grand Chess, anyone?) However, that's my preference. I want to hear from others who like this idea. And since I'm posting this at chessvariants.org, I'll note that as far as I'm concerned, we could just make it a chess variants decathlon and I would be happy. I think there are enough free, live play sites to come up with 10 Chess variants pretty easily. However, I want to see where I get positive responses, and what games people wish to play. I'll insist on at least two chess variants, and i would prefer at least 3 variants and Chess itself, but that's my preference. To administer all this, I'm working on adding a page to my web site ( http://gamesinmichigan.com) where players can sign up, and another one for reporting and tracking scores as the competition goes on. The web site will be up by October 1. For what it's worth, the only private information I'll collect is an email address, and I don't share private information with anyone for any reason. I don't need hordes of people to participate in order to make this work. email me (dave@gamesinmichigan.com) if you're interested. Meanwhile, I've prepared a web page that puts more flesh on this idea. You can find it at http://gamesinmichigan.com/decathlon . So, please make suggestions for tournament suggestions or games you would like to play or sites you would like to play at. I'm sorry to leave this site off the list, but for me, personally, I only play in 'live' tournaments. It's my own failing that causes that. I'm too obsessive, and check my messages/game status too frequently when playing on turn based sites. I hope to see some kindred spirits in some internet gaming rooms within a month or so. Edit Form You may not post a new comment, because ItemID Tourney Proposal does not match any item.