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INDOOR RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITY : CHESS

What’s New
The word recreation is derived from the latin word recreare which
means to be refreshed. It is a way of relaxing the mind and the body and
somewhat relieves a day-to-day tension. Recreational Activities are often done for
enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be “fun”. It gives
opportunity to be creative, to express basic needs, and to be your real self.

Indoor Recreation is one scope of recreation which is undertaken on the

comfort of one’s home or more specifically indoor and they are to recreate the
mind and soul. There are well-established clubs or recreation centers that have
wellequipped indoor leisure facilities, which cater for sports activities for all ages
and abilities, but it can be done just at home for simple activities.

There are many recreational activities that you can enjoy at home like
reading books, aerobics, weight training, card games and board games such as
games of the general, scrabble and chess.

Chess

Brief History

Chess is a game that has been played for centuries and was thought to have
originated in India under the name Chaturanga over the 15th century. Long ago,
it was considered a game reserved only for Kings and members of the upper
classes. Nowadays, chess is played by common people even at early age.

The modern design of chess pieces bears the name Staunton, who was an
English master in the mid-18OO. These are the type of pieces that are now used
in all tournaments worldwide.

London Tourney is the first international chess tournament played in 1851. Adolf
Anderssen who is a German player won the game. He became the unofficial best
chess player of the world because he did not receive any award or title.

The first official championship chess tournament was played in 1866 in London,
with sand clocks to restrict the length of a game. Steinitz who is a Bohemian

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(Czechoslovakian) Jew won the game and became the world's first official chess
champion, holding this title until 1894.

Goal

Chess is a battle of the mind. A game played between two opponents on opposite
sides of a board containing 64 squares of alternating colors. Each player has 16
pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, and 8 pawns. The main
goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Checkmate happens when the
king is in a position to be captured (in check) and cannot escape from capture.

However, before we go deeper, we need to learn more about chess pieces and the
board itself.

Benefits of playing the game

 It can raise your IQ Level

 It sharpens your memory
 It builds confidence and decision making skill
 It teaches planning and foresight
 It improves concentration
 It provides entertainment and relaxation
 It gives lesson on hard work and commitment

What Are The Chess Pieces?

When learning the game of chess, there is no place more important to begin than
with the pieces. In this part, we learn about all of the pieces specifically, where
they are placed when a game begins, and how they move.

Chess Pieces Position Before the Start of the Game

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Chess Pieces

When a game begins, each side starts with eight pawns. White's
The Pawn pawns are located on the second rank, while Black's
pawns are located on the seventh rank. The pawn is
the least powerful piece. If it is a pawn's first move, it
can move forward one or two squares.
If a pawn has already moved, then it can move forward just
one square at a time. It attacks (or captures) each square diagonally to the
left or right.
The Bishop The bishop is considered a minor piece (like a knight)
and can move diagonally as many squares as it
likes, as long as it is not blocked by its own pieces or
an occupied square. An easy way to remember how
a bishop can move is that it moves like an "X"
shape. It can capture an enemy piece by moving to
the occupied
square where the piece is located.
The knight is considered a minor piece (like a bishop) and is the
The Knight only piece in chess that can jump over another piece.
It moves one square left or right horizontally and
then two squares up or down vertically, or it moves
two squares left or right horizontally and then one
square up or down vertically. In other words, the
knight moves in an "L-shape." The knight can
capture only what it lands
on, not what it jumps over.
The Rook The rook is considered a major piece (like the queen)
and can move as many squares as it likes left or
right horizontally, or as many squares as it likes up
or down vertically (as long as it isn't blocked by
other pieces). An easy way to remember how a rook
can move is that it moves like a "+" sign.

The queen is the most powerful chess piece. The queen is

The Queen considered a major piece (like a rook) that can move
as many squares as it likes left or right horizontally,
or as many squares as it likes up or down vertically
(like a rook). The queen can also move as many
squares as it likes diagonally (like a bishop). An easy
way to remember how a queen can move is that it
moves
like a rook and a bishop combined.

The King The king is the most important chess piece.

Remember, the goal of a game of chess is to
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 checkmate the king. The king is not a very powerful piece, as it
can only move (or capture) one square in any direction. Please
note that the king cannot be captured. When a king is attacked, it
is called "check."

THE KING
THE QUEEN
The king moves exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. A
special move with the king known as castling is allowed only once per player, per
game.
The queen is the most powerful piece. It moves any one straight direction –
forward, backward, sideways, or diagonal. As all the other pieces, except the
knight, it cannot move over any intervening piece.

THE ROOK
The rook can move only forward and backward or from side to side —
always in a straight line. Each player has two rooks to start a match, and each
rook is placed in the back corner on either side of the board, behind the left-most
and right-most pawns.

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THE BISHOP
The Bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally. Each
bishop starts on one color (light and dark) and must always stay on that color.

THE KNIGHT
Each player begins the chess game with two knights. The knight move
by going two squares in one direction, and then one more move just like an “L”
shape. Knights are the only pieces that can move over other pieces.

THE PAWN
Pawn moves forward, but captures diagonally. It can never move
backwards. On its first move, the pawn can advance two squares at a time. The
succeeding moves will be one square at a time.

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 INDOOR RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITY: SCRABBLE

Brief History of Scrabble Game

In 1929, there were many victims of America's Great Depression that is

why Alfred Mosher Butts invented a game that would lift the spirits of millions. In
1931, he translated his all-time love of crossword puzzles into a board game. A
key to the game was his analysis of the English language. He studied the front
page of The New York Times to calculate how frequently each letter of the
alphabet was used. He then used each letter's frequency to determine how many
of each letter he would include in the game. He included only four "S" tiles so that
the ability to make words plural would not make the game too easy.

Butts initially called the game "Lexiko", but later changed the name to
"Criss Cross Words", after considering "It", and began to look for a buyer. The
game makers he originally contacted rejected the idea, but he was persistent.
Eventually, he sold the rights to entrepreneur and game-lover James Brunot, who
made a few minor adjustments to the design and renamed the game "Scrabble", a
word meaning "to grope frantically" from a Dutch word "Schrabben".

Scrabble Board is composed of 225 squares and 100 tiles. It can be played
by two or more person.

The Official Scrabble Board Design

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Key Squares:
2×LS = Double letter score
3×LS= Triple letter score
2×WS / ★ = Double word score 3×WS =
Triple word score

Points Per Letter:

1 point - A, E, I, O, U, L, N, R, S, T
2 points - D, G
3 points - B , C, M, P
4 points - F, H, V, W, Y
5 points - K
8 points - J, X
10 points - Q, Z

Extra Point Values

When looking at the board, players will see that some squares offer multipliers.
Should a tile be placed on these squares, the value of the tile will be multiplied by
twice or trice. Some squares will also multiply the total value of the word and not
just the single point value of one tile.

Double Letter Scores - The light blue cells in the board are isolated and when
these are used, they will double the value of the tile placed on that square.

Triple Letter Score - The dark blue cell in the board will be worth triple the
amount, so any tile placed here will earn more points.

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 Double Word Score - When a cell is light red in color, it is a double word cell
and these run diagonally on the board, towards the four corners. When a
word is placed on these squares, the entire value of the word will be doubled.

Triple Word Score - The dark red square is where the high points can be
earned as this will triple the word score. Placing any word on these squares
will boost points drastically. These are found on all four sides of the board
and are equidistant from the corners.

One Single Use - When using the extra point squares on the board, they
can only be used one time. If a player places a word here, it cannot be used
as a multiplier by placing another word on the same square.

Starting the Game

1. Without looking at any of the tiles in the bag, players will take one tile. The
player that has the letter that is closest to “A” will begin the game. A blank
tile will win the start of the game. The tiles are them replaced to the bag
and used in the remainder of the game.

2. Every player will start their turn by drawing seven tiles from the Scrabble
bag. There are three options during any turn. The player can place a word,
they can exchange tiles for new tiles or they can choose to pass. In most
cases, players will try to place a word as the other two options will result in
no score.

3. When a player chooses to exchange tiles, they can choose to exchange one
or all of the tiles they currently hold. After tiles are exchanged, the turn is
over and players will have to wait until their next turn to place a word on
the board.

4. Players can choose to pass at any time. They will forfeit that turn and hope
to be able to play the next time. If any player passes two times in a row, the
game will end and the one with the highest score will win.

The First Word Score

1. When the game begins, the first player will place their word on the star
spin in the center of the board. The star is a double square and will offer a
double word score. All players following will build their words off of this
word, extending the game to other squares on the board.

2. Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board.

Replacing Scrabble Tiles

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 Once tiles are played on the board, players will draw new tiles to replace
those. Players will always have seven tiles during the game. Drawing tiles is
always done without looking into the bag so that the letters are always unknown.

The Fifty Point Bonus

When players use all seven tiles to create a word on the board, players will
receive a 50 point bonus in addition to the value of the word. If the game is near
the end and players are not holding seven tiles, they do not get the bonus for
using all of their tiles. This is only collected for seven letter words placed. This
bonus is also known as BINGO.

The End of a Scrabble Game

`Once all tiles are gone from the bag and a single player has placed all of
their tiles, the game will end and the player with the highest score wins.

Tallying Scrabble Scores

1. When the game ends, each player will count all points that are remaining
on their tiles that have not been played. This amount will be deducted from
the final score.

2. An added bonus is awarded to the player that ended the game and has no
remaining tiles. The tile values of all remaining players will be added to the
score of the player who is out of tiles to produce the final score for the
game.

3. The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied
wins.

Accepted Scrabble Words

1. Any word that is found in a standard English dictionary can be used in the
game of Scrabble. There are also Official Scrabble Dictionaries that can be
purchased for more word options.

2. There are some words that are not allowed to be played and these include
suffixes, prefixes and abbreviations. Any word that requires the use of a
hyphen or apostrophe cannot be played in the game. Any word that
required the use of a capital letter is not allowed.

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 3. When playing an English version of the game, foreign words are not allowed
to be placed on the board. However, if the foreign word does appear in a
standard English dictionary, it is allowed. The reason for this is due to the
fact that the word is spoken enough and is considered part of the English
language.

Benefits of playing scrabble

1. It teaches you to the vocabulary.
2. Helps develop your intellectual.
3. It teaches the strategy.
4. Improve your emotional well -being and personal confidence.
5. It improves your creativity.
6. Develops concentration
7. Helps boosts the immune system.
8. It makes you happy.

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