Ninny Chess

Ninny Chess is a Smess clone. Smess® is a Parker Brothers game from the 1970's. It is a Chess like game, apparently targeted at children, which is easier to learn and has fewer rules to keep track of than Chess has. It is played on a 7x8 board with arrows on each square. The arrows indicate which directions a piece may move from that square. There are three pieces in the game, Ninnies, Numskulls, and Brains. Ninnies and Brains move one space at a time. Numskulls move like Queens, but only in the directions indicated by the square it starts from. The object of the game is to capture your opponent's Brain. The game proceeds like Chess, with each player taking turns moving one piece at a time. The game lacks the details that make Chess more complicated, such as special moves, checkmate, stalemate, and what not. It is legal to move the Brain where it can be captured, and if a player "moves into check" by mistake, it can cost the game.

Smess is no longer manufactured by Parker Brothers, and I assume no one really cares if I put out this clone. Perhaps it will renew enough interest in Smess that Parker Brothers will start manufacturing the game again, and that would be a good thing. Otherwise, I expect that no harm will ensue. On the board I have, the copyright belongs to Reuben Klamer and Associates, but searching for the name "Reuben Klamer" has turned up nothing but one reference to him as the creator of Smess. I know absolutely nothing about him, and if Reuben Klamer or someone associated with him would let me know if this clone violates any intellectual property rights, I would be grateful. I have avoided using the name Smess for the game, because my board indicates it was a registered trademark.

If you like the game enough that you want to get yourself a set, you can also find it under the names "Take the Brain," as it was called in England, or "All the King's Men," as a less silly version of it was called sometime around 1980. Based on what I've learned, "Take the Brain" was merely Smess by a different name, whereas "All the King's Men" was the same game with a different presentation. Instead of Ninnies, Numskulls, and Brains, there were, I think, Archers, Knights, and Kings. I haven't seen this game and don't know which piece moved like a Ninny and which like a Numskull.

I can be contacted through my website at http://Duniho.Fergus.com