The Smarti's Approach: Fostering Diverse Skills Through Board Games

The question often arises: how do Smarti’s Club activities differ from a chess club?

We love chess! You can find two player logic games in our collection, however...

Years of experience show that a diverse yet deliberately selected and methodologically curated, broad range of board games offered to children develops completely different areas unnoticed and has several beneficial effects on children.

In abstract games such as mill, chess or go, there is usually one best move. This is not always clear during the opening phase, but later it becomes apparent that there is a move that will certainly lead to a win in each situation.

If, especially during school time, a child constantly encounters tasks where a best solution can be calculated, then also plays games that convey the same, they can easily develop the idea that life is predictable. But as we know, this is not the case. 

Board games introduce other factors: probability, luck, and the influence of others' decisions. We try to think with the minds of our opponents, we strive to model their expected actions. This requires more than just logic and deduction; social factors and communication are equally important. This is much closer to real life.

Studies show that success in complex games such as chess doesn't necessarily correlate with high intelligence. Many would think that someone successful in such complicated games has above-average intelligence. It turns out that there is no clear correlation between the two: these players are not more intelligent, in fact, some professional Go players are at the lower end of the average spectrum. These players excel within the learned system but may struggle outside of it.

Understanding and then conveying many board game rules helps develop structured thinking and how to articulate rules and processes clearly for others.

Trying a variety of games peaks children's curiosity and interest, exposes them to diverse problem-solving scenarios.

This can then translate to other areas of life: for instance, we receive feedback from math teachers that children begin to love new tasks and do not get scared if they do not immediately see the solution.

We believe that those who are solely trained on ‘Type-tasks’ feel safe if they know which task can be solved by which method, and they get apprehensive when faced with a challenge that is unclassifiable at first.

Learning and practicing games show children that sometimes uncertainty can be inviting and thrilling, as new kinds of solutions can emerge from these situations.

When selecting the games, we focus on the specific group of children. We observe their receptivity, personality, abilities, and expand the set step by step. We simplify or add new twists to games, making them more complex, as each game hides countless variations.

This is the beauty of it — we can tailor the games to the children. The groups get to know, try out, and deepen their understanding of new types of games. By introducing variations and exploring new types of games, we prevent children from becoming fixated on single type of solution approach, fostering a more open-minded perspective.

 Our clubs’ goal is to achieve complex thinking and intellectual flexibility. In addition to traditional, abstract games we achieve our goal through the diversity of the games, encouraging play, critical thinking, and supporting learning, complex, and strategic thinking in a fun environment.

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