GAMES IN (erm...) THE-PUBLIC-EYE

        The Mind Sports Olympiad is virtually upon us now (should, perchance,
you get this on Monday, August 11th, rush out and buy a copy of The Times for
a detailed supplement about it - if this is a day or two too late, try your
library) and it's time to actually start thinking about doing something about
it. The pessimist in me who predicts doom, gloom and the death of all fun
hobbies anticipates the event having even less effect than me getting up on
stage, but, you never know, it might not be so bad.
        Foremost in my mind as a possible reason for optimism is the big-ass
œ100,000 Skandia-inspired prize fund. That is a whole lot of money. They've
announced the prize structure for the ten or so biggest games, and, not too
surprisingly, about 10% of that is for chess, the same again for Scrabble,
and some of the other more famous games get several œ,000s apiece. Still,
that leaves well over œ30K (minus, I suspect, the cost of medals) for about
30 or so different games. Some of their games - sorry, mind sports - strike
me as being obscure, and I like to think I know a bit about games... oh, how
wrong I am. It seems to me, though, that they are trying to attract players
from all around the world to come and take part in a global competition. This
leaves me wondering if œ100,000 is actually enough.
        That said, as an event, it might actually be quite something. With
luck there might well be opportunities to spectate obscure games played at
high level, which appeals to me, and I doubt many people will turn down the
chance to introduce an eager novice to their own favourite game. It's possible
that we might get some of the great and the good - whether gaming-famous or
general celebrity - turning up as well, which might be nice. I wouldn't be
surprised if some of the events had extremely few participants in, with
chances for punters-off-the-street to luck in to some dough. There's the First
World Stratego Championship, too - ahem! It strikes me as the sort of game
that lots of kids, young adults, bought-from-WHSmith-game fans and the like
will enter the tournament for, which is a shame. I'd consider going in for it
even though I've only played it a couple of times in ten or so years, just
because it would be fun to take part in. Similarly, I have a lifetime record
of Won 2 Lost 1 at Hare and Tortoise, so I might enter the tournament in that.
Sounds like a very good excuse for a jaunt down to London, except that I have
to sign on on the 20th, right in the middle of it. Bummer.
        This certainly should reach you by the 17th, though, so I'll recommend
"Game of War" (Sunday, Channel 4, 8pm) to you. OK, if you're not in the UK,
it won't reach you by the 17th - but you won't be able to get Channel 4! Of
course it's a game show (would I be talking about it if it wasn't?) but only 
in the loosest sense of the term, being televised coverage of a war game
recreation of a famous battle from history. As I write we have had the first
show in the short (pilot?) series of three, which recreated the Battle of
Balaklava and so featured a light brigade which might or might not charge.
        Two high-ranking military types take command of the two sets of
opposing forces, decked out roughly in red and green, and are sent off to
separate war rooms where they see the positions of their forces (and any of
the opposing forces within their forces' sight) on big maps of the area. The
two sides submit orders to two umpires in neutral blue, one of whom must
surely be Malc Cornelius as he looks in 2010 under a psuedonym, the orders
are adjudicated and Angela Rippon hosts, overseeing the proceedings, acting
as summariser of the events and discussing what's going on with a resident
expert. Her hosting is a very strong point of the show. She has tremendous
enthusiasm for what's going on and really cares about what's happening. She
acts almost like Peter Snow at times, and isn't afraid to let the players
know what she thinks of their tactics. She establishes herself as the sort of
person that you would like to meet at a con and play games with, thus making
her a babe (TM). As they say, on a scale of nought to one...
        The bad points of the show: the players seem slightly clueless as to
what's going on (the Russian general who had built up a commanding lead went
and somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory), the combat resolution
system is unexplained (because it's insultingly simple! A red d6 is rolled
for the red side, and a green one for the green side. The higher the roll of
the red die, the better it is for the red side, and the same for the greens)
and the units on the map are abstract and plastic (a big flaw according to my
figure gaming friends). For me, though, the first show was a triumph of style
over substance, yet very gripping television. I hope to see more in the future
and think Game of War is the best new TV show since Wanted.