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Pathfinder – baron m.

baron m. from thus spake a.k.

Welcome Sir R-----! Pray shed your overcoat and come dry yourself by the fire. I am told that these spring showers are of inestimable benefit to farming folk, but I fail to grasp why they can’t show the good manners to desist until noblemen have made their way indoors.

Will you join me in a warming measure and perchance a small wager?

I had no doubt sir!

I’ve a mind for a game oft played by the tribesmen of Borneo upon the cobbled floors of their homes as a means of practice for their legendary talent in forging paths through the dense forests in which they dwell.
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On Pitfall – student

student from thus spake a.k.

Recall that in the Baron's latest wager, Sir R-----'s goal was to traverse a three by three checkerboard in steps determined by casts of a four sided die, each at a cost of two coins. Moving from left to right upon the first rank and advancing to the second upon its third file, thereafter from right to left and advancing upon the first file and finally from left to right again, he should have prevailed for a prize of twenty five coins had he landed upon the top right place. Frustrating his progress, however, were the rules that landing upon a black square dropped him back down to the first rank and that overshooting the last file upon the last rank required that he should move in reverse by as many places with which he had done so.
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On A Day At The Races – student

student from thus spake a.k.

Most recently the Baron challenged Sir R----- to a race of knights around the perimeter of a chessboard, with the Baron starting upon the lower right hand square and Sir R----- upon the lower left. The chase proceeded anticlockwise with the Baron moving four squares at each turn and Sir R----- by the roll of a die. Costing Sir R----- one cent to play, his goal was to catch or overtake the Baron before he reached the first rank for which he would receive a prize of forty one cents for each square that the Baron still had to traverse before reaching it.
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A Day At The Races – baron m.

baron m. from thus spake a.k.

Halloo Sir R-----! Pray come join me and partake of a glass of this rather excellent potation!

Might I again tempt you with a wager?

Splendid!

I have in mind a game that always reminds me of my victory upon the turf at Newmarket. Ordinarily I would not participate in a public sporting event such as this since I am at heart a modest man and derive no pleasure in demonstrating my substantial superiority over my fellows.
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On Tug O’ War – student

student from thus spake a.k.

The Baron and Sir R-----'s latest wager comprised of first placing a draught piece upon the fifth lowest of a column of twelve squares and subsequently moving it up or down by one space depending upon the outcome of a coin toss until such time as it should escape, either by moving above the topmost or below the bottommost square. In the former outcome the Baron should have had a prize of three coins and in the latter Sir R----- should have had two.
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Tug O’ War – baron m.

baron m. from thus spake a.k.

Season's greetings Sir R-----! Come take a glass of mulled wine to warm your spirits on this chill winter's night!

Will you also accept a wager to warm your blood?

It gladdens my heart to hear so sir!

I propose a game that oft puts me in mind of the banquet held in the great hall upon Mount Olympus to which I was invited as the guest of honour by Zeus himself!
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We Three Kings – baron m.

baron m. from thus spake a.k.

Sir R----- my fine friend! Will you take a glass of perry with me to cool yourself from this summer heat?

Good man!

Might I also presume that you are in the mood for a wager?

Stout fellow!

I suggest a game that ever puts me in mind of that time in my youth when I squired for the warrior king Balthazar during his pilgrimage with kings Melchior and Caspar to the little town of Bethlehem.
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On Two By Two – student

student from thus spake a.k.

The Baron's most recent wager with Sir R----- set him the challenge of being the last to remove a horizontally, vertically or diagonally adjacent pair of draughts from a five by five square of them, with the Baron first taking a single draught and Sir R----- and he thereafter taking turns to remove such pairs.

When I heard these rules I was reminded of the game of Cram and could see that, just like it, the key to figuring the outcome is to recognise that the Baron could always have kept the remaining draughts in a state of symmetry, thereby ensuring that however Sir R----- had chosen he shall subsequently have been free to make a symmetrically opposing choice.