Games
Northern Kaissa
In the long winters of Torvaldsland, when the snow, the darkness, the ice and wintry winds are upon the land, when the frost break open the rocks, groaning, at night, when the serpents hide in their roofed sheds, many hours, under swinging soapstone lamps, burning the oil of sea sleen, given to Kaissa. At such times, even the bond-maids, rolling and restless, naked, in the furs of their masters, their ankles chained to a nearby ring, must wait.
Marauders of Gor - page 58
I studied the board before me. It was set on a square chest. It was a board made for play at sea, and such boards are common with the men of Torvaldsland. In the center of each square was a tiny peg. The pieces, correspondingly, are drilled to match the pegs, and fit over them. This keeps them steady in the movements at sea. The board was of red and yellow squares. The Kaissa of the men of Torvaldsland is quite similar to that of the south, though certain of the pieces differ. There is, for example, not a Ubar but a Jarl, as the most powerful piece. Moreover, there is no Ubara. Instead, there is a piece called the Jarl's Woman, which is quite powerful, more so than the southern Ubara. Instead of Tarnsmen, there are two pieces called the Axes. The board has no Initiates, but there are corresponding pieces called Rune-Priests. Similarly there are no Scribes, but a piece, which moves identically, called the Singer. I thought that Andreas of Tor, a friend, of the caste of Singers, might have been pleased to learn that his caste was represented, and honored, on the boards of the north. The Spearmen moved identically with the southern Spearmen. It did not take me much time to adapt to the Kaissa of Torvaldsland, for it is quite similar to the Kaissa of the south. On the other hand, feeling my way on the board, I had lost the first two games to the Forkbeard. Interestingly, he had been eager to familiarize me with the game, and was abundant in his explanations and advice. Clearly, he wished me to play him at my full efficiency, without handicap, as soon as possible. I had beaten him the third game, and he had then, delighted, ceased in his explanations and advice and, together, the board between us, each in our way a warrior, we had played Kaissa.
The Forkbeard's game was much more varied, and tactical, than was that of, say, Marlenus of Ar, much more devious, and it was far removed from the careful, conservative, positional play of a man such as Mintar, of the caste of Merchants. The Forkbeard made great use of diversions and feints, and double strategies, in which an attack is double edged, being in effect two attacks, an open one and a concealed one, either of which, depending on a misplay by the opponent, may be forced through, the concealed attack requiring usually only an extra move to make it effective, a move which, ideally, threatened or pinned an opponent's piece, giving him the option of surrendering it or facing a devastating attack, he then a move behind. In the beginning I had played Forkbeard positionally, learning his game. When I felt I knew him better, I played him more openly. His wiliest tricks, of course I knew, he would seldom use saving them for games of greater import, or perhaps for players of Torvaldsland. Among them, even more than in the south, Kaissa is a passion. In the long winters of Torvaldsland, when the snow, the darkness, the ice and wintry winds are upon the land, when the frost breaks open the rocks, groaning, at night, when the serpents hide in their roofed sheds, many hours, under swinging soapstone lamps, burning the oil of sea sleen, are given to Kaissa. At such times, even the bond-maids, rolling and restless, naked, in the furs of their masters, their ankles chained to a nearby ring, must wait.
"It is your move," said Forkbeard.
"I have moved," I told him. "I have thrown the Ax to Jarl six."
"Ah!," laughed the Forkbeard. He then sat down and looked again at the board. He could not now, with impunity, place his Jarl at Ax four.
Marauders of Gor - pages 56 - 58
Forkbeard put his First Singer to his own Ax four, threatening my Ax. I covered my piece with my own First Singer, moving it to my own Ax five. He exchanged, taking my Ax at Jarl six, and I his First Singer with my First Singer. I now had a Singer on a central square, but he had freed his Ax four, on which he might now situate the Jarl for an attack on the Jarl's Woman's Ax's file.
The tempo, at this point, was mine. He had played to open position; I had played to direct position.
The Ax is a valuable piece, of course, but particularly in the early and middle game, when the board is more crowded; in the end game when the board is freer, it seerns to me the Singer is often of greater power, because of the greater number of squares it can control. Scholars weight the pieces equally, at three points in adjudications, but I would weight the Ax four points in the early and middle game, and the Singer two, and reverse these weights in the end game. Both pieces are, however, quite valuable. And I am fond of the Ax.
"You should not have surrendered your Ax," said Forkbeard.
"In not doing so," I said, "I would have lost the tempo, and position. Too, the Ax is regarded as less valuable in the end game."
"You play the Ax well," said Forkbeard. "What is true for many men may not be true for you. The weapons you use best perhaps you should retain."
I thought on what he had said. Kaissa is not played by mechanical puppets, but, deeply and subtly, by men, idiosyncratic men, with individual strengths and weaknesses. I recalled I had, many times, late in the game, regretted the surrender of the Ax, or its equivalent in the south, the Tarnsman, when I had simply, as I thought rationally, moved in accordance with what were reputed to be the principles of sound strategy. I knew, of course, that game context was a decisive matter in such considerations but only now, playing Forkbeard, did I suspect that there was another context involved, that of the inclinations, capacities and dispositions of the individual player. Too, it seemed to me that the Ax, or Tarnsman, might be a valuable piece in the end game, where it is seldom found. People would be less used to defending against it in the end game; its capacity to surprise, and to be used unexpectedly, might be genuinely profitable at such a time in the game. I felt a surge of power.
Then I noted, uneasily, the Forkbeard moving his Jarl to the now freed Ax four.
Marauders of Gor - pages 60 - 61
"Your hall is taken," said the Forkbeard. His Jarl had moved decisively. The taking of the hall, in the Kaissa of the North, is equivalent to the capture of the Home Stone in the south.
"You should not have surrendered your Ax," said the Forkbeard.
"It seems not," I said. The end game had not even been reached. The hall had been taken in the middle game. I would think more carefully before I would surrender the Ax in the future."
Marauders of Gor - page 63
The Forkbeard was using the Jarl's Ax's gambit, a powerful opening. I studied the board with care."
Marauders of Gor - page 66
"I think I may have devised a plan," I said, "to meet the Jarl's Ax's gambit."
"Good," said the Forkbeard, studying the board.
Marauders of Gor - page 67
"We have time," said Ivar Forkbeard, "for another move or two."
"I am still attempting to break the Jarl's Ax's gambit," I said.
"Singer to Ax two is not a strong move," said the Forkbeard.
Twice yesterday, in long games, until the Torvaldsland gulls had left the sea and returned inland, I had failed to meet the gambit.
"You intend to follow it, of course," said the Forkbeard, "with Jarl to your Ax four."
"Yes," I admitted.
"Interesting," said the Forkbeard. "Let us play that variation."
It was a popular variation in the south. It is seen less frequently in the north. In the south, of course, the response is to the Ubar's Tarnsman's gambit. I could see that the Forkbeard, though expecting the variation, given the preceding four moves, was delighted when it had materialized. He had, perhaps, seldom played it.
Marauders of Gor - page 69
Bera, his woman, rose to her feet. I could see that her mind was moving with rapidity. "Come tonight to our hall, Champion," said she. The Blue Tooth did not gainsay her. The woman of the Jarl had spoken. Free Women in the north have much power. The Jarl's Woman, in the Kaissa of the north, is a more powerful piece than the Ubara in the Kaissa of the south. This is not to deny that the Ubara in the south, in fact, exercises as much or more power than her northern counterpart. It is only to recognize that her power in the south is less explicitly acknowledged.
Marauders of Gor - page 191
"You play Kaissa well," had said Ivar Forkbeard. "Let us be friends."
"You, too, are quite skilled," I told him. Indeed, he had much bested me. I still had not fathomed the devious variations of the Jarl's Ax's gambit as played in the north. I expected, however, to solve it.
Marauders of Gor - page 70
Torvaldsland has its own version of Kaissa. They have a greater passion for the game than even those in the south. They will sometimes settle differences over the Kaissa board rather than battle with weapons. They construct Kaissa boards that they can use at sea. Each square of the board has a tiny peg in its center. The pieces all have holes so they can fit over the pegs. Thus, the pieces will not move around the board in rough waters. Some of the pieces in their version differ from the southern version. They have a Jarl instead of a Ubar. The Jarl is the most powerful piece on the board. They have a Jarl's Woman instead of a Ubara and it is a more powerful piece than the Ubara. Instead of Tarnsmen, they have Axes. The Axe is a valuable piece, especially in the early and middle game. Instead of Scribes, they have Singers that move the same. Singers are valued the same as Axes but their usefulness does depend on the phase of the game. In the end game, a Singer is often more valuable as it can control more spaces than the Axe. Instead of I nitiates, they have Rune-Priests. They do have Spearman and they move identically as in the southern game. Instead of a Home Stone, they have a Hall or Lodge. One strong opening is the Jarl's Axe Gambit. That would be akin to the Ubar's Tarnsman Gambit.
Wrestling
Roped together by the waist, on the turf of the thing-fair, we grappled.
His body slipped in my hand. I felt my right wrist drawn back, at the side of my head, his two hands closed on it. He grunted. He was strong. He was Ketil, of Blue Tooth�s high farm, champion of Torvaldsland.
My back began to bend backward; I braced myself as I could, right leg back, bent, left leg forward, bent.
The men about cried out. I heard bets taken, speculations exchanged.
Then my right wrist, to cries of wonder, began to lift and straighten; my arm was then straight, before my body; I began, inch by inch, to lower it, toward the ground; if he did retain his grip; he would, at my feet, be forced to his knees. He released my wrist, with a cry of fury. The rope between us, a yard in length, pulled taut. He regarded me, astonished, wary, enraged.
I heard hands striking the left shoulders; weapons struck on shields.
Suddenly the champion�s fist struck toward me, beneath the rope. I caught the blow, turning, on the side of my left thigh.
There were cries of fury from the watchers.
I took then the right arm of the champion, his wrist in my right hand, my left hand on his upper arm, and extended the arm and turned it, so that the palm of his hand was up. Then, at the elbow, I broke it across my right knee. I had had enough of him.
I untied the rope from my waist and threw it down. He knelt on the turf, whimpering, tears streaming down his face.
The hands of men pounded on my back. I heard their cries of pleasure
Marauders of Gor p138-139
Wrestling seems to have been more of a test of strength than an attempt to pin your opponent. The two opponents are tied together at the waist with about a yard of rope between them. Punches are apparently against the rules of the event, but breaking your opponent's arm seems to be perfectly within the bounds of the rules.
Bat and Ball
Perhaps the most serious incident of the contests had occurred in one of the games of bat and ball; in this contest there are two men on each side, and the object is to keep the ball out of the hands of the other team; no one man may hold the ball for more than the referee�s count of twenty; he may, however, throw it into the air, provided it is thrown over his head, and catch it again himself; the ball may be thrown to a partner, or struck to him with the bat; the bat, of course, drives the ball with incredible force; the bats are of heavy wood, rather broad, and the ball, about two inches in diameter, is also of wood, and extremely hard; this is something like a game of �keep away� with two men in the middle. I was pleased that I was not involved in the play. Shortly after the first �knock off�, in which the ball is served to the enemy, Gorm, who was Ivar�s partner, was struck cold with the ball, it driven from the opponent�s bat; this, I gathered, is a common trick; it is very difficult to intercept or protect oneself from a ball struck at one with great speed from a short distance; it looked quite bad for Ivar at this point, until one of his opponents, fortunately, broke his leg, it coming into violent contact with Ivar�s bat. This contest was called a draw. Ivar then asked me to be his partner. I declined. �It is all right,� said Ivar, �even the bravest of men may decline a contest of bat-and-ball.� I acceded to his judgment. There are various forms of ball game enjoyed by the men of Torvaldsland; some use bats, or paddles; in the winter, one such game, quite popular, is played, men running and slipping about, on ice; whether there is any remote connection between this game and ice hockey, I do not know; it is, however, ancient in Torvaldsland; Torvald himself, in the sagas, is said to have been skilled at it.
Marauders of Gor p 140-141
Bat and ball, also known as knattleikur, is a game with uncertain rules. The manner of victory also is in question as, in Marauders, the game is called a draw without stating how to win, and in the Sagas they just played until they got tired of playing. In both Marauders and the Sagas, it seemed to be a common thing to hit and/or throw the ball at your opponent as well as attack your opponent with the bat used in the game.
The bats used were large and broad. They were made of hard wood and could send the 2" diameter ball flying with incredible force and speed. The game in the Sagas had no set number of players so long as the sides were even.
Other Games
Prior to his winning the swimming he had won talmits for climbing the �mast�, a tall pole of needle wood, some fifty feet high, smoothed and peeled: for jumping the �crevice�, actually a broad jump, on level land, where marks are made with strings, to the point at which the back heel strikes ther earth; wlking the �oar�, actually, a long pole; and throwing the spear, a real spear I am pleased to say, both for distance and accuracy; counting the distance and the accuracy of the spear events as two events which they are, he had thus, prior to the swimming, won five talmits.
He had done less well in the singing contest, though he much prided himself on his singing voice; he thought, in that one, the judges had been against him; he did not score highly either in the composition of poetry contest nor in the rhyming games; �I am not a skald,� he explained to me later; he did much better, I might mention, in the riddle guessing; but not well enough to win; he missed the following riddle; �What is black, has eighty legs and eats gold?�; the answer, though it might not seem obvious, was Black Sleen, the ship of Thorguard of Scagnar; the Forkbeard�s answer had been Black Shark, the legendary ship of Torvald, reputed discoverer and first Jarl of Torvaldsland; he acknowledged his defeat in this contest, however, gracefully; �I was a fool.� He grumbled to me. �I should have known!� Though I attempted to console him, he remained much put out with himself, and for more than an Ahn afterward.
Marauders of Gor p 140