What if they were playing "Hey, That's my Fish!" at the next table?

Short version of my question:  If an upcoming tournament were to feature a section of a game other than Chess at the same venue, would it make you more or less likely to attend?

Long winded explanation, ending with the same question: (The rest of the post could easily be skipped unless you are  curious about background of the question.)

An awful lot of people think that Chess is unique among all games, superior to all of them, the greatest game in the world, and all competitors for the title are unworthy.  Other people think that Chess is just a game, no better than a lot of other games.

My own opinion is that there are a lot of games that have all the properties that make Chess a great game, except one.  Because Chess has been the primary "intellectual" game of Europe for hundreds of years, it has spawned a huge body of literature, and a huge base of players who have truly mastered the game.  While any game that could possibly inspire such effort must have certain special properties, there are many, many, games that have all of those necessary properties.  They simply weren't the game that the crowd picked to be the top game for thinkers in the most influential part of the world for the last several centuries.  To put it differently, Chess is not unique, but Chess players are.

However, I, personally, am not one of those players who has mastered the game, and I don't ever intend to be such a player.  I, personally, like games.  Lots of games.  I like thinking games much more than games of chance, but even if you limit yourself to luckless games, generally those in the abstract strategy board game family, there are a huge number of games to play, and I personally, would rather learn several of them at a rather shallow level than one specific one at a very high level.  When it comes to games, I am content to be a jack of all trades, and master of none.

My experience with players at Chess tournaments suggests that I am unusual among tournament players.  I usually have a Xiangqi set with me at a tournament to play in the skittles room if I can find an opponent.  (My son and I usually start a game, and hope that someone sees it and either recognizes it or wants to learn.)  While we get a few takers to play that, or other, similar games, the most common reaction is complete indifference, with just a hint of disdain, and an occaisional actual show of, distaste bordering on revulsion, as if we are polluting the sacred ground of the tournament by playing a game other than Chess.

My question is how deep that sort of feeling of disdain goes.  In particular, imagine that not only were people playing other games in the skittles room, but they were actually playing a separate section of a tournament right there in the very room with you.  Assume they were quiet, and respectful, and concentrating just as deeply and appropriately as the Chess players, but they were playing Go, or Xiangqi, or Chess960, or "Hey, That's My Fish!"  (I'll explain below.)  Would that make you less likely to attend the tournament?

I have two reasons for asking.  First, I like games other than Chess, and would like to see organized tournaments in them, because I would like to play in them.  Second, I am a Chess organizer who has  empty space in my hall on a regular basis.  I'm thinking about filling some of that space with Go players, although I would consider any game for which I could find players, as long as I thought those players would be capable of competing under the same conditions (notably, in silence) that are expected from Chess players.  I could see Checkers or Shogi as possibilities, and I would be open to any abstract strategy game up to and including "Hey That's My Fish".

OK.  For those who don't know what it is, "Hey That's My Fish" is an abstract strategy game in which players attempt to capture portions of a hexagonal grid playing field by moving a set of four markers around in such a way that they block the movement of the other players.  Points are scored for territory captured.  Each position on the board is worth 1 to 3 points, chosen at random at the beginning of the game, but known to both players before they being moving. In the commercial implementation, the markers are plastic penguins and points are based on the number of fish depicted on the hexagonal tiles that make up the playing field.

Like Chess960, HTMF is a game of perfect knowledge, with no element of chance after the initial setup.  It is generally sold as a lightweight "family" game, but that is really just clever marketing, to which the penguin theme contributes.  It is quite a deep game which, when played competitively, requires intense thought and intellectual skill, just as Chess does.  On the other hand, taking it seriously is deliberately discouraged by wrapping a theme of penguins, ice floes, and fish around the game.  Serious games just don't sell as well as "fun" games.

So, now imagine that you saw some game other than Chess that would be held in the same venue as an upcoming Chess tournament.  Would that influence your decision to attend?  Would it matter if it were a well known, historical game like Go or Shogi, or a modern creation like "Hey That's My Fish"?

FWIW, my next Chess tournament will almost certainly include a Go section, and almost certainly will not include "Hey That's My Fish" of Hive or Pentago or any other modern creation, but I am open to feedback in either direction.

This is hilarious.

Kasparov vs. Kramnik: the rematch.

Only this time, they play RISK.

God, RISK is one of the longest games I have ever played.  My friends and I all played and we started at noon, and did not finish until 3 in the morning.  Nobody won at 3 am, so we declared a UN resolution and divided the world amongst ourselves.

Isn't go, and risk both suppossed to be tougher than chess?

My friends came up with a version of risk where we negotiate peace treaties and learn to live in peace and harmony after the third or fourth beer.

I have a few friends that play Go, but I do not.  Their complaint is that there are very few Go players in the states and the ones that can be found here generally aren't skilled--lack of competition.  They mainly try to go to college campuses and engage the foreign exchange students.

There is (or was--I haven't been there for a while) a place in upstate New York that used to put on 24-hour marathon affairs in games like Dungeons and Dragons, and they filled the hall better than chess players.  They outnumbered us by something like 5 to 1.  These would be held Friday evening through Saturday evening, when the bridge tournaments would start.  Chess was on Sunday, there was bridge club during the week and scrabble or backgammon tournaments on the weeknights.

Maybe this will help, because I don't see you generating much enthusiasm for Go or Shogi on this side of the Pacific--especially in Michigan.  California, maybe.  If nothing else, this may give you a direction to help put some fannies in the seats.  There are a lot of games players in this country that want absolutely nothing to do with chess, so you do have alternatives.  But  for me personally, I go for chess and chess alone.

 Go, yes.  Risk?  Not that I've ever heard.

I have a glass backgammon board and always would entertain a game.  Unfortunately there are fewer people who know how to play it than chess.  In addition, a lot of the players are lacking considerably in skill.

Scrabble and backgammon sound like a nice mix in the skittles room to me. Do you run the fundraiser / chess tournaments in the pontiac area?

 Yep.  That's me.  (Chess for Charity, Auburn Hills)  I was thinking about evening Scrabble, since it wouldn't be suitable in the Chess room.  (Too much conversation required)  However, a skittles tourney might make sense.   Thanks for the suggestion.  Will mull it over.

 I don't know anything about either.