The IAGO Hall of Fame is
the place where IAGO honors
everything historically
significant that involves
abstract strategy games.
Inductees into the IAGO Hall of
Fame are selected by the IAGO
Standards Committee based on
their historical significance
and influence. Their historical
significance and influence
involves things such as
regional and global popularity,
longevity, and innovations in
play mechanics that spawned
entirely new classes of
abstract strategy games. In the
future, categories for
induction will be expanded to
cover more than games.
If you have an interest in
playing the games below, please
visit the IAGO
Clubhouse website at: www.IAGOClubhouse.com,
which provides a place to play
other people. To learn more,
and discuss, these and other
abstract strategy games, please
visit the IAGO website at: www.abstractgamers.org
.
Below is the list of initial
inductees into the IAGO Hall of
Fame.
You can also find the list
of inductees for other years
here: 2009 .
Categories of inductees can
be found here: Games .
Anglo-American
Checkers is one of the
oldest versions of
games in the Checker
(Draughts)
family of games. The
Checkers family, is the
a successor to a more
ancient game called Alquerque.
The Anglo-American
version of Checkers, is
played on an 8×8 board
with 12 pieces on each
side. Unpromoted pieces
are only permitted to
move and capture
forward. Promoted
pieces may move and
capture backwards.
Chess is one of the
most popular abstract
strategy games. It is a
descendent of earlier
forms of the Persian
games Shatranj,
which is a descendent
of a game from India
called Chaturanga.
The current form of the
game emerged in Europe
during he second half
of the 15th century. In
chess, and other games
in the same family as
Chess, the object is to
capture or checkmate an
enemy King piece. Chess
differs itself from
other games in the same
family by its use of
castling, and also how
is pawns move.
Go originated in
China, and is over 2000
years old. Its
strategic complexity
and simple rules have
been reasons for its
longevity. Go is played
on a 19x19 grid, but is
also playable on a
smaller board. In Go,
players place their
color stones (either
white or black) in an
attempt to surround
more territory than
their opponent.
Gomoku is a game
involving being the
first player to place
five of their pieces in
a row to win. It is
traditionally played
with Go pieces (black
and white stones) on a
Go board (19x19
intersections). Other
games derived from
Gomoku include: Renju
(includes more rules
for tournament play),
Connect6
(get 6 in a row to
win), and Pente
(a commercial game with
the ability to capture
enemy stones).
Hex was discovered in
the middle of the
twentieth century
within a 5 year period
in Europe by Piet Hein
and the United States
by John Nash. Hex is
played on a hexagonal
grid, where players try
to be the first to
connect their two sides
of the board with a
chain of their pieces.
Hex is the most well
known and popular of
the connection family
of abstract strategy
games. While it is not
he first connection
abstract strategy game,
which would be Lightning,
it is the game that is
considered the
benchmark and
inspiration for most
connection games that
have appeared game
following its
discovery.
Hnefatafl is a
member of the Tafl
family of games, and is
played on an 11x11
board. Tafl games are a
family of abstract
strategy games that
originated from
northern Europe. This
family of games is
unique in that the game
consists of two sides,
each with uneven sides
(piece counts and
types), and different
objectives. The side
with less pieces
attempts to escape
their king, which stars
in the center of the
board off the board
(corner or edge), while
the opposite side
attempts to stop them.
Besides Hnefatafl,
other games in the Tafl
family include Tafl,
Alea Evangelii, and
Tablut.
Nine Man Morris is a
game involving two
phases of placement and
movement of pieces,
where players seek to
form Mills (three
pieces of their own in
a line) in order to
remove an opponent's
piece from the board.
Nine Man Morris was
popular in the Roman
Empire, where it
originated. It saw
heightened popularity
in Medieval Europe.
Nine Man Morris is also
known as Nine Men
Morris, Nine Men's
Morris, Mill, Mills,
Merels, Merelles, and
Merrills.
Oware
is the one of the most
well know versions of
games in the Mancala
family of abstract
strategy games. The
Mancala family of games
involves moving and
sowing stones in pits,
in order to capture
stones controlled by a
player's opponent.
Oware is also played
throughout West Africa
and also the Caribbean.
Other games in the
Mancala family, which
are played in other
regions in the world,
include Bao,
Kalah,
and Omweso.
Shogi is a native
game of Japan and is in
the same family of
abstract strategy games
as Chess and Xiangqi.
Unique features of
Shogi are: Drops, where
captured enemy pieces
are returned into play
as friendly pieces and
promotion of almost all
friendly pieces, not
just pawns, to upgraded
pieces.
Xiangqi originated in
China, and commonly
goes by the name
"Chinese Chess" in
English. It is in the
same family as Chess
and Shogi, which
involves the capture or
neutralizing of a King
(or King-like piece).
Unique features of
Xiangqi include: a
river in the middle of
the board, restricting
movement of a player's
general (like a King in
Western Chess) to a
small area on its side
of a board, and a
Cannon piece that uses
a leaping move to
capture enemy pieces.
For additional information on the
IAGO Hall of Fame, contact Rich Hutnik
at: (845) 592-0845
or email i n f o @ H a l l O f F a m
e. c o m (Please remove all spaces
beween letters and "@" and "." when
sending email).
