As far back as humans walked the Earth, there were games, many of which were played on a field that had been drawn in with a sharpened stick, or boundaried by rocks, and in the case of Kalah and similar “pocket” games, the landing places were scooped out of the dirt.

Pieces for those early “board” or “flat” games were typically made of wood, stones, shells and in fact anything that was traded as money, including beads. Yes, beads were used as game pieces, and I have a large collection of ancient board game pieces that show how broad the variation could be.

Historians today weren’t THERE, actually THERE, in the Old West, when people had nothing to do but play checkers after the daily chores were done. Who had checker pieces? But everyone carried SOME cash — you had to. Credit cards didn’t exist back then, and hardly did money.

Cowboys would bet penny against penny. Of course, it had to be “even money”, no such thing as nickels against pennies, unless one of the players was a pro gambler with some sort of edge that gave him the long-term win.

So who owns which penny?

The solution is so simple and so obvious that it was thought of thousands and thousands of years ago. Continue reading →