The "Trophy Exchange Game!"

Some time last year I set a goal for myself to collect 100 chess.com trophies by Christmas. I failed.

(Note that my current challenge is to write a semi-regular chess blog ..... success in that also being questionable!)

Rather than just play chess, read blogs, do the puzzle, and try the tactics trainer ... why not try something different ....OK ..... collect 100 trophies .....but..how?

At that time, collecting one or two a month, from generous opponents....... 10 more years possibly?

Who are more likely to give trophies? Casual players, serious players, highly rated, or unrated? Male or Female, young or old ? Canadian, American, European?

Strategy # 1: Asking for Trophies

Not very successful ... almost pathetic, close to begging ....whether simply stated in the title of the Game (eg. Give Me a Trophy, Trophies Needed, Collecting Trophies Here) or brought up in the chat feature ..... the idea was to take a direct approach and simply state my goal ....nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Strategy # 2: Demanding Trophies

Didn't even try it ...... this is for fun after all ..... what are you going to do? Say "I won't play unless you give me a trophy!"  good luck with that approach......

Strategy # 3: Winning Trophies

Just Kidding! ...... some skill would be required for that .... maybe one or two trophies a year tops! What am I going to have to do? Study, learn, improve ?

(now that Live Bullet tournaments are available , I am actually winning 1 or 2 a week .... or rather I was for a while there)

Strategy # 4: Give Trophies Away

This works. And it came about just as I was thinking that my goal of 100 was just craziness. I did something that I hadn't really done before ..... I started just giving away trophies ("Good Game" is still my favourite as it sums up the experience perfectly) ..... giving without any real care if there would be any reciprocation .....maybe I would receive a trophy in return but, no matter, on to the next game....

Strategy # 5: The Trophy Exchange Game!

Just as strategy # 4 worked, this worked almost twice as good. If I was enjoying giving out trophies for fun, perhaps others would too.

Simply stating it in the title got many positive responses and inquiries .... "Great Idea", "What is this?", "I haven't done this before?" "What trophy would you Like? (doesn't matter .... you choose).

Not every game created resulted in a trophy however ..... success for me was more in the positive responses ......Game Titles are often overwritten with "Let's Play!" when game settings match, for others it may be a language problem, cell phone users may not bother with titles or chat, others prefer to just play.

If we were all the same, what fun would that be?

I found that I can control the giving ...... " Have a Hamburger!" ..... or better yet,

"Good Game!"