You know what's lame? Checkers. Take all the power and majesty of chess and reduce it to a bunch of circles jumping over each other. LAME.

Not so, says the checkers connoisseur (yes, there are checkers connoisseurs). Well, first he would correct you by calling it not checkers, but draughts. He would then go on about the game's history and its popularity (among preschoolers? The Dutch?), all that as we try to stay awake.

The connoisseur would explain that there are different varieties of checkers (sorry, draughts), ranging from the English (the one popular in America) to Brazilian to Belgian to Russian to Ghanaian. The major differences are the pieces' ability to capture backwards and the kings... Sorry, we drifted off there.

The connoisseur would discuss international draughts, the version most played, well, internationally. The board is expanded from an 8x8 to 10x10 and championships are held regularly. And then he'd tell us that one of the greatest checkers — draughts! — players of all time was Iser Kuperman, who was world champion seven times, and we would perk up — just a tad, because, you know, we love when Jews are awesome even in something as lame as checkers — before succumbing once again to yawns.

Oh well. Better than dominoes, we guess...