Mind Sports
Board- and card-based competitive games: chess, Go, xiangqi, shogi, bridge, backgammon, mahjong and poker.
20 sports in mind sports.
Backgammon
A 5,000-year-old race game — roll two dice and bear off all 15 checkers before your opponent, using the doubling cube to raise the stakes.
Bridge
The world's premier partnership card game — bid to a contract with your partner, then take enough tricks to make it.
Chaturanga
The Indian ancestor of every modern chess variant — four divisions of the army, king and counsellor at the centre.
Chess
A two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board — checkmate the enemy king before your own falls.
Draughts
Ancient two-player strategy board game played on a checkered board (8×8 or 10×10) where pieces move diagonally, capturing by jumping — first to eliminate opponent or trap all pieces wins.
French Tarot
France's premier trick-taking card game — 78-card tarot deck with a permanent trump suit and the powerful Excuse.
Go
Ancient East Asian board game — surround more territory than your opponent on a 19×19 grid of intersections.
Gomoku
Place stones on a 15×15 grid — the first player to line up five in a row (any direction) wins.
Hearts
Trick-taking card game for four players where the goal is to avoid winning hearts and the Queen of Spades, or 'shoot the moon' by winning all of them.
International Draughts
The international 10×10 draughts variant — 20 pieces per side, flying kings, and compulsory maximum capture.
Janggi
Korean chess — pieces sit on the intersections of a 9×10 board and the general lives in a nine-point palace.
Makruk
Thai chess — closer to the original Indian chaturanga than modern chess, with cowrie-shell pawns and a slow queen.
Memory Sports
Competitive memorisation sport — cards, digits, names, faces and abstract images against the clock.
Othello
Two-player board game on an 8×8 grid — flip your opponent's discs by trapping them between your colour. "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master."
Poker
The umbrella family of betting card games — read your opponents, bet with hidden hands, and win by making the best five-card hand or by forcing everyone to fold.
Rummy
Card-matching game where players draw and discard to form sets (three of a kind) and runs (three consecutive same-suit cards), aiming to shed all cards from hand.
Shatranj
Medieval Persian chess — the direct ancestor of modern chess, played across the Islamic world for a thousand years.
Shogi
Traditional Japanese chess variant played on a 9×9 board with 20 pieces per side, unique for the 'drop rule' allowing captured pieces to re-enter play under their new owner.
Speedcubing
Solve twisty puzzles as fast as possible — 3×3, 2×2, up to 7×7 plus one-handed, blindfolded and Megaminx events.
Xiangqi
Ancient Chinese strategy board game played on a 9×10 grid with a central 'river' — pieces move on line intersections; goal is to checkmate the enemy General.