Brain teaser

[killer]

A question for you:

What game requires a chain with five pieces of wood at either end?

[beGi]

Crucifixion...

[killer]

Crucifixion...

They must play some curious games in Croatia.

[killer]

Just to give you all a helping hand, the game is played on every continent.

[beGi]

Just to give you all a helping hand, the game is played on every continent.

I was right then...

[Marin85]

Most likely backgammon, unless one is playing with plastic checkers on the fool´s day

[killer]

Not backgammon ... unless that now requires a chain with five pieces of wood at either end.

[Marin85]

Not backgammon ... unless that now requires a chain with five pieces of wood at either end.

Checkers are made out of wood. 2+ checkers at one position make a chain. The starting position includes a chain of 5 checkers for each player, this chain is placed at the end of the desk (w.r.t. the players) q.e.d.

Now waiting for the real answer

[killer]

Hi Marin,

IIRC, backgammon pieces are called stones or men. More than one stone on a point is a block.
So, sorry, but your answer is incorrect.

Try moving outdoors. Also the name Gunter might help.

[dsvochak]

My answer

[killer]

Well done, dsvochak, the answer is cricket.

It is played on every continent, including some extraordinarily tough Australians who played it on Antarctica. Brrr!

The pitch is a 'chain' in length ... a surveying measurement first introduced by the reverend Edmund Gunter in the 17th century. A chain is 22 yards or just over 20 meters.

At either end of the 'chain' are five pieces of wood; three wickets, and two bails.

[RealBlackStuff]

I used to play cricket in my younger days, but I have never heard of a 'chain' for a length indicator...
Chaingang, chainsaw, yes, but they have a different meaning.

[bill bolton]

At either end of the 'chain' are five pieces of wood; three wickets, and two bails.

You need, at the very least, six pieces of wood at either end to play cricket

You cant have a game of cricket without a batsmen at each end, each wielding the willow.... and a cricket bat has more than one piece of wood in it!

Howzat!

Bill

[killer]

I used to play cricket in my younger days, but I have never heard of a 'chain' for a length indicator...
Chaingang, chainsaw, yes, but they have a different meaning.

Look up 'Gunter's Chain' in any search engine. It is based on an old feudal length given to peasants as their growing space. A distance of 22 yards is still used for the length of an allotment (look that one up if you are outside the UK).

Being one tenth of a furlong, it provided surveyors with a portable measuring tool before the days of tape measures. The acre is based on chain lengths.

It is exactly the right distance for bowling too. Pitching, as in baseball, is slightly shorter (20 yards), but that doesn't include a bounce.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the brain teaser and I am really surprised that someone from the Indian subcontinent didn't get the answer straight away.

If anyone suggests you need 6 pieces of wood at either end then the answer is that only one bat is required as it may be shared.

[killer]

Dear Bill Bolton,

Imagine the scene, Hambledon in 1750. 1 shepherd with a bat. A bat made of 2 bits of wood? I doubt it.

So, correct on the wood, but the shepherd could use his crook ... made from one piece of wood.

Whatever, the question was, "What game requires a chain with 5 pieces of wood at either end?"

Cricket requires a chain length pitch and a wicket with bails at either end. It is as simple as that. The fact that today it also involves sightcreens etc is beside the point.

Perhaps you know another game that has those requirements?

[bill bolton]

Cricket requires a chain length pitch and a wicket with bails at either end. It is as simple as that.

Without bats to protect the wicket there is no "game", its as simple as that.

As to the sharing of a bat, that's just not cricket, as one runner then has an advantage.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[killer]

The wickets (5 bits of wood) are at either end of the chain.

Bats are not at either end of the chain.

One bat will be somewhere in front of one wicket, probably at the crease, when a ball is delivered. The other bat will probably be at the opposite crease, but doesn't have to be. Bats are moveable. When a run is taken the bats can both be at the middle of the chain. The pitch and the wickets are static ... unless a wicket falls (after which it is replaced) or stumps are drawn at close of play.

Probably time for a declaration now.

[RealBlackStuff]

Cricket: As explained to a foreigner...
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.
When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.
There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

[bill bolton]

The wickets (5 bits of wood) are at either end of the chain.

The whole reason it is a brain teaser is because the answer is NOT obvious.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[killer]

@Bill Bolton: Fair comment, matey. I only posted it for a bit of fun. Your turn for the ashes next time?

@RBS: 'For foreigners' is interesting. 104 countries play cricket. I believe there are 203 countries, or independent states, in the world. So more than half play the game. All the same, your contribution is, IMO, a good p!ss take on its laws and rituals.

[Marin85]

104 countries play cricket. I believe there are 203 countries, or independent states, in the world. So more than half play the game.

That is the kind of statement politicians like to sell us

[killer]

Hi Marin,
Go here: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/
Then, on the right hand side, you can search by country to find where cricket is played.
Did you know that the game is played in Germany?

[Marin85]

Killer, it seems to me that this time you missed the point (My "concerns" were not related to the very disturbing fact that cricket is played in 103 out of 203 countries.)