Today was the first day in almost a week where my television was not tuned to cable news. It is a relief to be able to shift my focus back to the responsibilities that I have: my full-time job and, of course, this mentorship which I am closing in on fifty hours to its completion with twenty-nine days remaining. So I have made up some ground combing through list after list of e-mails for international federations, some associated very closely with the Olympics and others not so much. Here is what I have covered over the past several days: the Commonwealth Games, cricket, curling, dance, darts, dragon boat racing, and draughts. Draught simply means draft in British (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Just like draught beer. Does that mean I am dealing with some sort of a drinking game?
The answer, it turns out, is no. Draught is also British for what we call checkers (Masters Traditional Games, 2019). I am curious to know how they came up with the name draughts for that game. Maybe because it is popular to play in pubs, although I have visited British pubs before and do not recall seeing checkerboards. There are, however, federations in Africa because I included fifteen of them on my e-mail list before calling it an evening. Other regions like Europe and North America will likely come tomorrow. With all the e-mails I have put in, you would think I was much further along than “draughts”. It just goes to show the extent to which people around the world love games.
References
Masters Traditional Games. (2019). The rules of draughts. Retrieved from https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/draughts-rules.htm
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Draught. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/draught