Fun for the summer

You can’t beat swimming, long summer walks, playing baseball, and many other traditional outdoors activities for the summer.

In the heat and humidity of the past few days, I’ve been looking for something a little more suited to not moving much.  For me, that involved firing up a game or two and exercising the brain instead of the body.

My current fascination is a game called Solitaire Chess. 

I could take the noble route and say that I was looking for an educational game to share via the blog.  After all, there is a section for teachers interesting in using gaming in the classroom.  But, that wouldn’t be truthful so I won’t go that route.

There are some new games here and some spins off traditional games.  

I’ll never be confused with being a chess master but I’ve always been inspired by chess.  Yes, I’ll confirm that I was a member of the chess club in high school.  

There is just something really addictive in this solitaire version played in the mini-board that you see in the graphic.  The chess pieces all have the same traditional moves and your job is to clear the board and leave just one piece standing.  It’s nowhere as easy as this description would imply.  

It’s just one of those things that keeps you coming back and you just know that this type of thinking is good for you.  I’ll cave and mention the educational use – introduce your club or class to this game for a better understanding of chess.  Oh, and poke around the rest of the site for more ideas.  There’s no shortage.

In the meantime, have some fun.

I played online but there are downloadable applications if you’re interested.