Many of us watch the Olympics. It is fun and enjoyable to
see athletes from around the world compete in various games which show off
their physic, stamina and will power. There is even the para-Olympics for
those with physical disabilities and another for mental disorders which inspire
us to rise above our own situations. But there is a group of people left
out. A set of athletes whose mind is more powerful than their bodies.
Thus I call for a non-athletic Olympics that celebrates strategy,
ingenuity, and mental skill.
Concept: This non-athletic Olympics will host all sorts of
games and contests that exercise the mind and demonstrate skill in some form or
fashion. Contests will range from traditional to out of the box with new
games and contests being included so long as they meet the criteria of being
skill based and require some form of ingenuity. So let us look at the
types of games that can be included.
Games: So traditional games like chess and
checkers along with their variants will be included. So you can have
traditional chess, 3D chess, shogi, Chinese Chess and circular chess all being
played. They can even have gimmick types where certain rules are added or
subtracted or swapped to test the skills of the players and their ability to
adapt mentally to the changes in the game. Card games like poker, Black Jack
and rummy will be included as each requires a certain level of skill and
strategy. Again, rules can be swapped, or added or subtracted to test the
players’ skill with these card games. Other card games like the variants
that use Hanafuda cards which are popular in Asian countries can be included
too. Basically, the non-athletic Olympics can also serve as a means to
introduce other games from around the world to the world stage to entice people
to play them.
Online Games and other popular games:
Online strategy
games will also be included that are all about seizing and holding territory.
So Star Craft, Allies and Axis and others can be used to test another dimension
of skill for these players. On the other hand, card games like Magic,
Yu-Gi-Oh, and Vanguard compete for supremacy as the number one collectible card
games in the world. So the top collectible games (probably the top 10) will
compete as well with variety being added as time goes on due to new cards
continuously being made which keeps the games interesting.
Contests: Even contests like cooking with
grill offs, pie contests, and cooking contests like Food networks Chopped (give
chefs three random ingredients that are required to be used) and Cut throat
Kitchen (where you can sabotage opponents in various ways) will be added.
Quiz types like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune can also be added for other
forms of out of the box thinking. In this case testing knowledge and
problem solving skills. Art contests will work too, with different styles
such as architectural, mosaic, musical, written and more included as well. In
this case the art, music and written contests will be limited to the duration
of the non-athletic Olympics where artists will have to create their works in a
specified period of time. So you can have poetry, and short story contests
alongside musicians creating musical scores and all these to a certain theme
for each particular contest. There can even be fun contests where we can
revive the bards of old which will combine the skills of musicians and story
tellers wrapped into one.
Requirements to compete: There will be no age limits, or
need for any restrictions based on disabilities. Reason is due to it all
being about skill and not athletics. Thus no need for unintended
discrimination. What will be required is that you must win (or place) in
a specified number of contests in the three and a half years leading up to this
form of Olympics. This number will be specified based on type of game
being played. Also, more than one entry per country will be allowed.
So it may be possible to have a thousand players for a single game with
half or more being eliminated each day. So it comes down to not just national
glory but personal glory as well.
Conclusion: Here in this form of Olympics, we
celebrate the skill and mental discipline, creativity and more in this world
championship that will be held every four years. Also, this can act as an
exhibition show for new games, forms of art and music to entice people into
trying them and giving them a chance at national fame (so long as they fit the
theme that is). Is it not time we stop celebrating just the athletes and
their impressive bodies and celebrate the mind as well.
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