> I've been playing board games with my grandson, age 4. He makes his own rules. If he wins, he wins. If I win, we both win. If he doesn't like the way the dice come up, he gets to roll again. He likes to play with me, because his computer won't let him get away with stuff like that.
> Howard

As a keen player of chess, I have played against many people who aren't all that good at playing the game, and hence make up all the rules. Some of these new rules include:

1) Mind Control - this is where the queen mysteriously changes colour from black to white or vice-versa
2) Checkers-chess - this is where the king can "jump" over the piece if it is diagonally adjacent to it and hence take it
3) Wrap-around - this is where the pieces can come off the right side of the board and magically reappear on the left side of the board, or vice-versa
4) A very devious tactic where a friend of the opponent sneaks behind you and grabs your rooks and bishops while you're not looking
5) An imaginary rule that states that you forfeit the game if your king is knocked over EVEN IF you didn't do it on purpose

I managed to win a game once against someone who implemented rules 2 and 4. Granted, I might have used rule 1 and 3, but I still won.

While on the subject of chess, I have also seen what is known as a "random" game, whereby each player has only two seconds to move their pieces otherwise they forfeit the game. Some of the most spectacular checkmates I have ever seen have been from random games.

Chris"which way does the little horsey one go again?"topher