This a magazine for people who like abstract games. Chess, Checkers and Go are among the best-known examples of this type of game, but there are thousands of others. They include once-popular traditional games like Nine Men's Morris, and games like Mancala and Shogi, which are well known in their home cultures, but largely unknown elsewhere. In addition, a great many new games have been invented in the past hundred years, many of them incorporating highly original ideas.
           Chess players have their books, magazines and clubs, and so, too, to a certain extent, do players of Checkers, Go and Shogi. There is no need for another forum for players of these games. Many wonderful games exist, however, which are given scant coverage, if any.
           We will be concerned primarily in these pages with games which have been forgotten or neglected, or games which are relatively new and therefore largely unknown. One of the joys of this class of game is that there are opportunities to devise new strategies. While it is interesting to study the literature of established games such as Chess or Go, opportunities for creativity are limited -- to find anything original to say one has either to be a genius or to devote a lifetime of study to the game.
           Typically, we will introduce a game through a short series of articles. Part of the first article in a series will deal with the rules; subsequent articles will focus more on strategy and tactics, with knowledge of the rules assumed. The three games included in this issue are Bashne, Lines of Action and Kyoto Shogi. Do not be concerned if none of these three especially interests you because other games will be covered in subsequent issues. In particular, I would like to investigate one of the more strategic Mancala games, one of the large Chess variants, and a connecting game such as Twixt. A major determining factor of games covered will be reader response, so if you have a particular game you would like to see written about, please let me know.
           Bashne, the old Russian game of Column Checkers, has been enjoying a revival since the mid-1980's. There are a number of serious players in Russia, Latvia and the Ukraine, and tournaments have been held every year in St. Petersburg. A small but fascinating literature is starting to emerge. The article in this issue is largely introductory, but in subsequent issues I intend to bring you some of this literature.
           Lines of Action needs no introduction for fans of abstract games. I intend to present some of my own ideas on this game. Not everybody will agree with what I have to say, but at the very least I hope to stimulate further discussion.
           No publication on abstract games would be complete without a Chess variant. The small Shogi variant Kyoto Shogi is the representative of that class of games in this issue. I hope that Chess players who do not know Shogi will not be put off by the Chinese characters. Once this hurdle is overcome, a fascinating new group of games becomes available.
           In addition to these articles focusing on strategy, we intend to include game and game-related reviews and news. This issue has a review by Steve Evans of the Zillions software. I believe Zillions to be the most important new gaming concept since Dungeons and Dragons. Although he modestly refrains to mention it in his article, Steve has already used Zillions to solve some incredibly difficult problems in Chu Shogi which had remained unsolved for hundreds of years.
           Our book review in this issue is of David Parlett's The Oxford History of Board Games, which is arguably the most important book on abstract games since H.J.R. Murray's A History of Board Games Other Than Chess. I enjoyed playing Trax and GIPF for the first time for the reviews in these pages. Trax has been around for some time, and maybe it is a little late for a review, but I believe that many people are as yet unaware of this fascinatingly different game. GIPF is perhaps the best new abstract game of the last few years, and Project GIPF ambitiously introduces a kind of "meta-game" concept.
           I hope another function of this magazine will be to help revive forgotten games. I have written about one of my own all-time favorites, Mentalis. If you know of a game that you strongly feel does not deserve to be consigned to oblivion, please contact me. Likewise, I encourage you to send me any information about games that you think is worth printing; I would appreciate news about tournaments, new releases, websites, and so on.
           If you like what you see in these pages, please consider subscribing and tell your friends about us. A subscriber base will help to cover costs, of course, which is the downside of a printed magazine, and just as importantly it will provide a body of enthusiasts that will give this publication life through our efforts to respond to their needs.
           I would like to extend my thanks to my game friends who encouraged, and even contributed to, this magazine. Thanks also to my wife, Connie, without whose inspiration and support this venture would not have been realized.

Kerry Handscomb

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