On Jun 10, 12:53*pm, Peter Clinch wrote:

We're not the realm of having to hand-carve the pieces or anything like
that, it looks more like excuses being found to shelve the idea.


So you're good at searching, and you knew where to look. Well, I found
out too, eventually, but the BGG forums are evidence that most people
aren't that good at searching. There are some abstract fans in my
local game store, I asked them about 10x10 draughts, they said that
they had tried to find them but failed. So yes, it is an issue.

It isn't just the boards. Strategy books are also almost completely
unavailable in English (or any non Russian/Dutch/French language). I
suppose you could use Google translate on the French federation's
pages like I do, but considering that GT translates "jeu de dames" as
"Mühlenspiel" - you get the idea, it takes a good deal of decryption
when the translator has practically nothing of the technical
vocabulary.

Improvised boards are not good enough. They might be good enough for
me, but I'm just one person, and one person can't play a game on his
own. I need to convince people to try, and for that, the visual appeal
of a "real" board is essential. Few people enjoy games purely for
their abstract qualities. Not even I can say that I do that. Hex on a
square grid, for example? It works, but it's just not the same. Solid
bits = serious game.

But thanks for the game shop link. now I can compare prices, and see
how nice a set I can get while remaining below the tariff limits!

Harald Korneliussen wrote:

It isn't just the boards. Strategy books are also almost completely
unavailable in English (or any non Russian/Dutch/French language).

Personally I like to learn about games by playing them, but I do realise
there's plenty of folk like to read up on how to do better so fair comment.

Improvised boards are not good enough. They might be good enough for
me, but I'm just one person, and one person can't play a game on his
own. I need to convince people to try, and for that, the visual appeal
of a "real" board is essential.

Since "nice" Go boards are expensive a pal of mine looked into creating
some for our club via local laser cutting and etching services,
available via the Yellow Pages. He got some fairly respectable ones
made up at a much lower cost than commercial equivalents. This suggests
to me that in this day and age anyone close to a large town in a
developed country should be able to do something similar if they really
want to. It remains the case that we're not in the realm of
unobtainable rocket science.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:
I don't think in this day and age the fact that you're mail ordering
from Quebec, Canada or somewhere in NL or wherever is actually a
major barrier compared to ordering from some bit of the US you don't
live in. International shipping really isn't that exceptional any
more.

It's not exceptional but it's not cheap and import duty is not your
friend. (Though possibly neither of these objections applies to the
specific example at hand, shipping from Canada to the USA.)


Dave.

--
David Richerby Miniature Strange Atlas (TM): it's
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ like a map of the world but it's
totally weird and you can hold in it
your hand!

On Jun 10, 6:20 am, David Richerby
wrote:

It's not exceptional but it's not cheap and import duty is not your
friend. (Though possibly neither of these objections applies to the
specific example at hand, shipping from Canada to the USA.)

Canadians purchasing goods from abroad are usually charged a $5.00
service fee from the post office for collecting GST (the national
sales tax, which works like VAT rather than a strict end-sale sales
tax, as the provinces collect). This despite our free-trade agreement
with the Americans.

John Savard

On Jun 9, 8:47 pm, Rich Hutnik wrote:
On Jun 9, 6:18 pm, " wrote:

At least in the United States, you can't find them anywhere. They
aren't even online here.

L'ssociation québécoise des joueurs de dames in Canada advertises
10x10 and 12x12 boards, so at least there is a North American Source.
See

http://www.fqjr.qc.ca/dames/materiel.html

Completely in French, though I suppose you can do a Google traduction.

Ok, Canada, in French :-) How about the United States in English?

I have yet to discover such a source for a 10x10 board, though of
course one can't immediately conclude that it doesn't exist.

In message , Peter Clinch
writes
Harald Korneliussen wrote:

It isn't just the boards. Strategy books are also almost completely
unavailable in English (or any non Russian/Dutch/French language).

Personally I like to learn about games by playing them, but I do realise
there's plenty of folk like to read up on how to do better so fair comment.

Improvised boards are not good enough. They might be good enough for
me, but I'm just one person, and one person can't play a game on his
own. I need to convince people to try, and for that, the visual appeal
of a "real" board is essential.

Since "nice" Go boards are expensive a pal of mine looked into creating
some for our club via local laser cutting and etching services,
available via the Yellow Pages. He got some fairly respectable ones
made up at a much lower cost than commercial equivalents. This suggests
to me that in this day and age anyone close to a large town in a
developed country should be able to do something similar if they really
want to. It remains the case that we're not in the realm of
unobtainable rocket science.

I have learned from this thread:
there are people in the US who want to buy 10x10 checkers boards
they don't know how, or are unwilling, to find a supplier outside the
US
such boards can be manufactured in the US, for little effort

This suggests a business opportunity. If I lived in the US, I might act
myself.

Nick
--
Nick Wedd

I have learned from this thread:
there are people in the US who want to buy 10x10 checkers boards
they don't know how, or are unwilling, to find a supplier outside the
US
such boards can be manufactured in the US, for little effort

This suggests a business opportunity.

Unfortunately it may be a very small market. Even 8x8 checkerboards
that meet American Checker Federation specifications are uncommon
enoug, though not quite impossible to find.

Since "nice" Go boards are expensive a pal of mine looked into creating
some for our club via local laser cutting and etching services,
available via the Yellow Pages. *He got some fairly respectable ones
made up at a much lower cost than commercial equivalents. *This suggests
to me that in this day and age anyone close to a large town in a
developed country should be able to do something similar if they really
want to. *It remains the case that we're not in the realm of
unobtainable rocket science.

Pete.

Smart! Very smart!

On Jun 10, 10:14*am, "
wrote:

Unfortunately it may be a very small market. *Even 8x8 checkerboards
that meet American Checker Federation specifications are uncommon
enoug, though not quite impossible to find.

Rich Hutnik raised this point before - basically, just as Fischer
preferred a white and dark-green chessboard, similarly, the official
colors for a checkerboard are now buff and dark green, or something
like that, to minimize eyestrain - not the traditional red and black,
which tends to maximize eyestrain.

The checkerboard that came with the Transogram 52 Game Treasure Chest,
though red and black, at least had the numbers from 1 through 32 on
the black squares!

John Savard

On Jun 10, 12:28*pm, Quadibloc wrote:
On Jun 10, 10:14*am, "
wrote:

Unfortunately it may be a very small market. *Even 8x8 checkerboards
that meet American Checker Federation specifications are uncommon
enoug, though not quite impossible to find.

Rich Hutnik raised this point before - basically, just as Fischer
preferred a white and dark-green chessboard, similarly, the official
colors for a checkerboard are now buff and dark green, or something
like that, to minimize eyestrain - not the traditional red and black,
which tends to maximize eyestrain.

The checkerboard that came with the Transogram 52 Game Treasure Chest,
though red and black, at least had the numbers from 1 through 32 on
the black squares!

My memory was right - green and buff for Checkers. Also, the pieces
need to be red and *white*, and the squares 2 inches in size, and the
pieces from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

For Chess, the squares can be from 2 inches to 2 1/2 inches; as to the
size of the pieces, the guidelines are complicated, (3 3/8" to 4 1/2"
height for the King, and a base from 40% to 50% of that height) but
one manufacturer recommends the base of the King should be about 75%
of the size of the square for a good match.

John Savard