The vision behind the game.
I grew up playing hours and hours of basketball outside with my brothers, and in College I practically lived in the gym. I also thoroughly enjoyed playing chess, and I would read dozens of chess books to learn new chess openings and to improve my endgame. While I was not the "elite" conversation of "Grandmaster" or good enough in high school to get a basketball scholarship, I always loved basketball and chess. Thus, Basketball Chess was formed!
Basketball Chess was created by combining Chess-like tactics and with the strategies and variability of basketball. This game is perfect for players, coaches, and basketball fans of all ages! It is super easy to learn, and there is always a possibility that a bucket will be made!
Basketball Chess teaches the following concepts:
- Take what the defense gives you: An open shot is often-times more likely to go in compared to a contested shot.
- Recognize your personnel: Play to the strengths of your players, pass the ball to players that give you the best chance to score!
- Defense is all about forcing the offense into uncomfortable situations: Maybe it is worth double-teaming a shooter on the three-point line to coerce the opponent to take a more difficult midrange shot.
- Basketball is a Make or Miss League: You can run the perfect play to get a wide-open shot and somehow miss on an air ball. On the other hand, you can have lockdown defense and your opponent can still score on a highly contested shot!
How to play Basketball Chess
To play Basketball Chess, you simply set up your offense, your opponent sets up their defense, and then the game begins! The offense gets to pass, move their players around the court, or take a 2-point or 3-point shot, while the defense tries to contest as may shots as possible. If a shot is scored, the person controlling the offense goes to defense and the defense goes to offense.
That is the simple explanation, and you can watch the video below for a full detailed explanation on how to play! There are also multiple variations to playing Basketball Chess (from adding steals and blocks, additional player movement, and more player statistics! You can play every variation without having to purchase additional Basketball Chess items, unless you want to play the full court version which requires two boards.
