What are the favorite games of people with very high intellects? Do the games differ if someone is a math or computer whiz as opposed to a brilliant writer or musician? Regardless of the person's manifestation of genius, is there a thread of particular games which attracts these exceptional minds?
I would think chess is an easy answer. But are there more esoteric games that average civilians do not hear about or understand?
I used to live near Swallow Falls Park in Western Maryland. There is a plaque there that states this was a favorite camping site for Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison! I would have loved to have heard what these men talked about and any games they played for amusement.
http://www.history.com/news/ford-and-edisons-excellent-camping-adventures
I play competitive table tennis. I have noticed that this game seems to attract an unusual amount of highly educated individuals. Of course, it also attracts some quirky, unusual folks as well!
Please share any games or activities that attract the stellar minds among us.
Another interesting class of games are multiplayer games that combine strategy and persuasiveness (the one I remember best from college days was Risk). A good Risk player has to accurately analyze which of the other players are the biggest threats AND make compelling arguments that lead to alliances or weaken the alliances of your primary opponent(s) at any given point in the game.
Personally I like strategy games that combine strategy, economy, military etc. I like manager games (the more complicated the better) too.
In a multiplayer setting I used to play ikariam - that combines strategy/economy/military/diplomacy etc - back in 2008-9.
I got ranked #1 in score among ~3mn players back in October-December 2009, and then deleted my account in protest for some weird stuff that was going on with GameForge (the company that made it)... Some players were using bugs to climb the score ladder and despite that being against the rules (penalty for bugusing = ban), they allowed it. So I said let them have the bug-users there, legitimate champions weren't obviously worth their attention. And the game wasn't worth any more of my time and dedication if it rewarded cheating.
As for sports, which is another dimension, I prefer ...motor-sports and go-karts in particular. I find the challenge of shaving 10-20-50 msec in laptime very mental as one has to find and then go through the optimal lines, braking points, acceleration points etc.
Of the pure mental challenge games, I think "go" stands out as the most demanding. It was also the last such game where humans were able to hold off computers (although the computers finally won recently). You can study it for years and keep learning new techniques and patterns. It's also got a great handicapping system that allows players of any skill level to have a competitive match. It's also the only game that ever made my hand shake with fear when playing: when you're playing a stronger player with a handicap you start off with a big advantage and the match often comes down to a few traps they've left on the board near the very end of the match. You quickly learn that a mistake in those last few moves will turn your victory into defeat, and seeming "safe" moves can be disastrous.
When I used to live in Berkeley, California near the UC Berkeley campus, one of the housemates was certifiably really damn smart. He was also very good at go. As verification of his intellect, he left for Princeton to do research in maths at the Institute for Advanced Study. (that's kind of a semi-big deal if any of you've never heard of it).
Anyway, I can attest that smart folks like, respect and play, go.
And thanks @blocktrades for being a whale that is promoting some political posts that are making it to trending. Until recently I've not noticed very many controversial posts making it even remotely close to trending. We really need to see some varied content get some notice so that other creators are emboldened to do something different. So thanks for that.
Cheers
Love chess, Go, and Table Tennis! Would also mention poker. Have played on a table with numerous intelligent people with the likes of doctors, and lawyers for example.
Very cool post and video. I love Bruce Lee. Cheers! :-)
I'm surprised you didn't mention role-playing games.
One of the things about them is the game mechanics substituting for social interaction, which helps those who are mentally strong but socially weak.