The first World Mind Sports Games will be held in China in October, right after the regular Olympics. It is sponsored by the International Mind Sports Association who got the International Olympic Committee to come on board. So far so good.

Except that a big part of the IOC’s job is to get all of the physical athletes who participate in Olympic events to submit to the World Anti-Doping Agency. The IOC’s rules weren’t written with mind sports in mind, so it seems that, owing to the fact that the WMSG is now under IOC jurisdiction, all contestants at the WMSG are now going to have to be tested by the WADA for muscle enhancing drugs.

Drugs that will surely give a player a distinct advantage over his or her opponent when he or she sits down to play Chess, Checkers, Go, Bridge, or Xiangqi, the five games to be played at the two-week event.

(source)

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This won’t be the first time, or the last time, that games are used in an effort to preserve a fading language or culture.

In this case, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe has launched a project to preserve the Ojibwe language, which is slightly different from the Canadian Ojibwe dialect in case you were wondering.

Spearheaded by Julie White Pigeon, the Tribe has hosted gatherings and created tools such as Ojibwe board games, Bingo, and Charades.

To do your part, the next time you win a game try saying “Geep Kinagay!”

(source)

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