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Topic: Going to SuperNationals 2013 (Read 10499 times) |
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omar
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Going to SuperNationals 2013
« on: Mar 16th, 2013, 10:10pm » |
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http://uschess.org/tournaments/2013/snv/
The USCF approved Arimaa as a vendor at the SuperNationals V. I will be having a booth there. If anyone else is attending, please stop by and visit us.
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #1 on: Mar 17th, 2013, 11:57am » |
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What fun! I have long believed that chess players are our most natural market, even though it is a tough market to crack because chess players are not interested in any games other than chess. I hope that having two books, a tournament-size set, an Android app, and an iPhone app makes Arimaa look enough like chess to cross some hurdle of seriousness. Chess players may be harder to draw in, but they are easier to keep once we get them started.
The Arimaa World Championships will still be going that weekend. I think live commentary of a final-round game would be a fabulous thing to display in your booth if the timing works out. Maybe the game won't be scheduled at a good time for chess spectators, but just in case, you had better be sure to have a laptop and speakers along with you.
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omar
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #2 on: Mar 19th, 2013, 6:19am » |
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Yes, it would be great if we had a game going with live commentary at the booth. If not I will replay a video from a previous year 
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rabbits
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #3 on: Mar 19th, 2013, 4:28pm » |
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I am tentatively planning on going! Details about the schedule and whether or not I should sign up for anything would be helpful! Are you going to be there all three days, Omar? It would be great to meet you in person!
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omar
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #4 on: Mar 21st, 2013, 8:29am » |
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Yes, I'll be there all three days. I'm really looking forward to meeting you.
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #5 on: Mar 23rd, 2013, 10:41am » |
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Yesterday I taught a math class for the first time in a while. It reminded me that, although everyone understands that a teacher must know the subject, far fewer people understand that a teacher must know the class. Identical material must be communicated differently to different audiences.
This made me think how to pitch Arimaa to chess players. Chess players speak their own language, and you will reach them best if you speak it too. For example, to most chess players, "new" does not mean "cool and interesting". I haven't done any focus group research, but I'll bet a nickel in the dark that chess players will react better to Arimaa if you call it a "modern strategy game" than if you call it a "new strategy game".
Below are some other talking points I expect chess players to respond to favorably. [Don't include the justification in brackets. Keep it simple unless someone asks. The follow-ups are for talking, not for display.]
1) Arimaa has proven depth. [There are already eight class intervals of players (Elo 1000 to 2600) and more depth is discovered each year.]
2) Top humans beat top computers. [Arimaa players are two class intervals ahead of top computers in WHRE ratings.]
3) Arimaa has no draws. [Piece trades sharpen the position rather than deadening it. You can't trade down to a draw.]
4) Arimaa openings diverge more than Chess960. [The Shannon entropy of Arimaa is 10.7 bits vs. 9.9 bits for Chess960, and is increasing as we learn. This variety is voluntarily chosen in an effort to win, not imposed by dice.]
5) Both colors have equal chances. [Second setup in Arimaa is apparently worth as many tempi as first move.]
I admit that point 5 is not something any chess players lose sleep over, but points 2-4 are. You hear grumblings that "computers are killing chess", "draws are killing chess", and "I quit chess because I hated to memorize openings." So with all these complaints, why do millions of people keep playing chess? Mainly because of point #1, the proven depth of chess.
For comparison, the status of chess is
1) Chess has fourteen proven class intervals of depth.
2) Top chess players are at least one class interval behind top computers.
3) Top-level chess consists of 60% draws.
4) It is typical for high-level chess games to be "in book" for fifteen moves.
5) White scores 55% of points in chess to 45% for black.
But I believe smart marketing doesn't even directly mention any problems with chess. Omar, please do not display that second list anywhere in your booth. It is a major turn-off to go to a chess tournament and start telling people that their favorite game is broken. Leave out the negative and hammer on the positive.
In particular, hammer on point #1. Make sure to say you respect chess for its depth, and by the way Arimaa is a deep game, Arimaa has strategic depth, Arimaa is highly strategic, Arimaa is about position not calculation, Arimaa is a game of positional understanding, Arimaa has strategy books written about it, etc.
In this vein it would really help if we could get an endorsement from Boo. If Boo will say something nice about Arimaa, and we have that quote with a "(FIDE 2373)" behind it, that will impress chess players more than all the logical argument in the world. Are you up for it, Boo?
Also, have I missed any Arimaa talking points that are relevant for chess players?
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #6 on: Mar 23rd, 2013, 12:45pm » |
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"In Arimaa, I correctly guess my opponent's move much less often than in chess, but I don't need to in order to win, because he can't guess mine!" --Valdas Bucinskas (FIDE 2373)
Thanks for the long chat about how you feel about Arimaa, Boo.
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Boo
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #7 on: Mar 23rd, 2013, 12:56pm » |
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I am glad you liked it. Good luck at the SuperNationals!
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rabbits
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #8 on: Mar 23rd, 2013, 2:01pm » |
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Thank you for writing this out for us Fritz! I had not realized how trading pieces can make positions more drawish in chess and more sharp in Arimaa!
Another talking point is that Arimaa may be played with a chess set and four quarters.
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chessandgo
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #9 on: Mar 23rd, 2013, 2:19pm » |
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I like the idea of having a quote from Boo, but I'm not sure the can't guess quote is a positive argument to catch a chess player's attention. The fact that we can't guess opponent's move is a negtive looking flip-side of the positive looking fact that we have tremendous freedom in arimaa for our moves.
Wouldn't it be better to have something about the fact that you can always make a difference by finding a technically even more precise move? Staying positive?
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #10 on: Mar 24th, 2013, 10:41pm » |
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Jean, give us a quote from you and we can use it with your FIDE rating. You can probably give a more unequivocal endorsement, right? Like, "I have little doubt that Arimaa possesses a strategic complexity at least as deep as chess," from your book, only maybe shorter, e.g. "Arimaa is at least as deep as chess."
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #11 on: Mar 25th, 2013, 8:41am » |
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on Mar 23rd, 2013, 2:01pm, rabbits wrote:| Another talking point is that Arimaa may be played with a chess set and four quarters. |
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Good point! I don't like to call Arimaa a "chess variant", because I think chess variants have a bad name among a lot of chess players, but the fact that you don't have to buy a set to play has got to be a plus.
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chessandgo
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #12 on: Mar 25th, 2013, 1:14pm » |
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Nah, I'd go with "Arimaa is (even) deeper than chess", or "Arimaa's strategy is even deeper than chess'." or "Arimaa is even more complex than chess", whatever looks best to your native speaker's eyes.
However, I do think getting a quote from Boo is an excellent idea, much better than having a quote from me. Boo's chess level is where the air gets thin enough to grab attention from anyone below that near-IM level (or is Boo IM even?), which is to say of almost everyone
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Fritzlein
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #13 on: Mar 25th, 2013, 1:26pm » |
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on Mar 25th, 2013, 1:14pm, chessandgo wrote:| Nah, I'd go with "Arimaa is (even) deeper than chess", or "Arimaa's strategy is even deeper than chess'." or "Arimaa is even more complex than chess", whatever looks best to your native speaker's eyes. |
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I like "Arimaa is even deeper than chess", because the "even" implies that chess itself is very deep.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 25th, 2013, 1:27pm by Fritzlein » |
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Arimabuff
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Re: Going to SuperNationals 2013
« Reply #14 on: Mar 27th, 2013, 6:20am » |
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on Mar 25th, 2013, 1:26pm, Fritzlein wrote:
I like "Arimaa is even deeper than chess", because the "even" implies that chess itself is very deep. |
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How about "Arimaa is to Chess what the Mariana Trench is to Lake Superior"? 
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