A Comprehensive Guide To Checkers In Pop Culture

Checkers might not appear as often in pop culture and the media as games like chess or poker, but it still makes plenty of appearances. Artists like using it because it is such a simple and evocative game. Unlike Go or Mahjong, practically everyone knows how to play it.

Aside from accessibility, checkers is also a popular game for its symbolism. Directors, screenplay writers, and musicians use it to depict competition and strategic thinking (though references to 3D chess might be more common these days).

It also brings a sense of nostalgia. People love checkers because it is what they played when they were kids. Many of us remember playing games against older relatives, using pure guile to win.

Finally, checkers has cinematic appeal. The grid-based board game with simple pieces looks good on-screen. Filmmakers and TV creators can use it to create compelling scenes.

So, where does the game of checkers appear in pop culture? And who are the game’s most famous players? Let’s find out. Prepare yourself for some obscure references!

Checkers In Pop Culture

Here are some of the more prominent references to checkers in pop culture:

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 American drama film that follows the story of a prepubescent chess prodigy, Bobby Fischer. The character is unlikeable, but his skill in the game of chess is second to none.

While the movie mainly focuses on how Bobby dispatches older opponents on the chess board, it also features a scene where he speed-plays checkers.

Films like Bobby Fischer informed the public perception of checkers as a game that serves as an entryway to chess. While Bobby commits intellectual resources to the latter, the former seems more like playful childhood fun to him.

The use of checkers also helps to show some of the lead protagonist’s more amiable characteristics. While chess is serious, checkers is a chance for him to let his (rather long) hair down and enjoy himself for a change.

Queen’s Gambit (2020)

The Queen’s Gambit is a Netflix miniseries based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name, published in 1983. The story follows the escapades of orphan Beth Harmon as she discovers her talent for chess from a young age.

During the series’ early episodes, eagle-eyed audiences occasionally see Beth playing checkers. Screenwriters likely included this to emphasize the progression of her talent.

Prodigy Beth learns chess principles from the janitor at her orphanage and soon becomes obsessed with the game. As she develops, her skills become more apparent, and she enters the competitive world to test her mettle against professional players. As she takes on increasing challenges, she battles various personal demons along the way, including her struggles with addiction.

The title of the book and miniseries, “The Queen’s Gambit,” refers to an opening move in chess where a player sacrifices a pawn to put the queen in an advantageous position. The term is a metaphor for Beth’s troubles as she attempts to live successfully on and off the chessboard.

Peanuts by Charles Schultz (1950 - 2000)

Peanuts was a comic strip by Charles Schultz that ran from 1950 to 2000 and frequently depicted characters engaged in various activities, including playing checkers.

For instance, Snoopy often played checkers against his bird friend, Woodstock. Schultz depicted the beagle playing intelligent and sometimes unexpected moves against his none-the-wiser avian pal. Sometimes, games would take on a competitive edge but often descended into humor as Schultz depicted the game from the bird’s perspective.

Charlie Brown also played checkers in the Peanuts comic series. Schultz chose to depict him as the underdog, with the game serving as a vehicle to convey his struggles in life. Failing at the game was part of a lesson for children that setbacks can and will happen in life.

Lastly, checkers were a motif in the comics that regularly appeared when Schultz wanted to depict friendly social interaction. The game often formed the backdrop of social scenes where lead characters were grappling with one issue or another. Checkers was also more straightforward to draw than a chess board, which might explain why Peanuts comics featured the game so often.

The Honeymooners (1955)

The Honeymooners is a classic sitcom that ran for one season in the mid-1950s. The timeless episodes were aired by the DuMont network and then CBS until executives canceled the show in 1956.

The main plot revolves around the lives of bus driver Ralph Kramden and his best friend and sewer worker, Ed Norton. The pair share an apartment in Brooklyn with their wives, Alice Kramden and Trixie Notron. The series follows the comedic and tumultuous relationships between the couples, with each episode following the classic self-contained sitcom format.

Checkers make an appearance in Episode 23, Mama Loves Mambo. This installment sees dance teacher Carlos Sanchez move into the couples’ apartment building. Without knowing who he is, husbands Ralph and Norton wonder whether he is an elderly fellow who might like to relax with a game of checkers. Unfortunately for them, he is young, suave, and handsome and is giving their wives mambo lessons – not what they want!

Forrest Gump (1994)

Forrest Gump is a 1994 movie starring Tom Hanks based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The film follows the story of Forrest Gump, a low-IQ man who significantly impacts various historical events in the United States between the 1950s and 1980s.

Checkers is not a central theme in the movie. However, a memorable scene features the game during a conversation at the Gump family home between Forrest’s mother, Mrs. Gump, and the school principal regarding the boy’s education. The teacher says that Forrest isn’t ready for schooling because of his low IQ and that his parents should seek alternative educational opportunities.

Mrs. Gump disagrees and uses a checkerboard to show Forrest’s capabilities. The young boy jumps straight into the game, pulling off some impressive moves and showing his ability to think strategically. The sequence reveals that Forrest has other unique abilities and traits besides academic skills that his teachers might have overlooked.

The Andy Griffith Show (1960)

The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom TV series that ran from 1960 to 1968 on CBS. The show became popular among the public for its small-town vibe and warm humor and was popular among families wanting something to watch to help them relax.

The series referred to the game of checkers on multiple occasions, contributing to the overall charm of the series. One of the recurring events involved Sheriff Andy Taylor playing rounds of checkers games with his son Opie on the front porch. As in Peanuts, the game was a backdrop for father-and-son bonding sessions.

Checkers also sometimes made an appearance in Floyd’s Barbershop. Griffiths would write it into the script as a vehicle for getting residents in the local town together to talk to each other.

Interestingly, the choice of game was checkers, not chess. This probably reflected Griffith’s preference for the show to have a relaxed pace. The show has a slow, almost lethargic vibe, which is more suited to checkers than any other game.

The choice of checkers also reflects something of an American obsession with the game at the time. The majority of the working public saw chess as overly intellectual and complicated, whereas checkers was more approachable and friendly, like the show.

The Wire (2002 - 2008)

The Wire was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed series to ever appear on American television. Created by David Simon, it explored various themes in the troubled city of Baltimore, including education, the police force, and the illegal drug trade.

During season 4, Simon uses checkers as a metaphor to highlight the various factions and power struggles involved in drug dealing. A direct reference occurs in an episode where drug dealer Proposition Joe discusses the game with his nephew Cheese. The conversation revolves around how the drug trade is like a game of checkers, requiring participants to think several steps ahead strategically to avoid calamity.

Granted, discussions of checkers are not a central theme in The Wire. However, it is yet another example of an instance where the game makes an appearance in conversations about winning and getting the better of your opponent. The reference also adds an almost innocent touch to the conversation, which is perhaps why Proposition Joe used it in conversation with his nephew.

Mad Men (2007 - 2015)

Checkers also gets a mention in the critically-acclaimed TV series, Mad Men, which ran from 2007 to 2015. The reference occurs in Season 5, where Lane Pryce is playing a game of checkers in his office when Pete Campbell enters to discuss business. Lane talks about how checkers make him nostalgic because he used to play the game with his father.

Famous Checkers Players

Here’s a rundown of famous checkers players throughout history. We’ve included some new players as well as some golden oldies.

Roel Boomstra

Roel Boomstra is a recent Dutch checkers champion who won the Draughts World Championship in 2016, 2018, and 2022. The player born in 1993 also has a European Draughts Championship to his name, winning in 2014. Other accolades include coming first in the Netherlands championship in 2012 and 2015.

Alexander Georgiev

Alexander Georgiev is a Russian checkers player who won multiple international draughts tournaments between 2000 and 2020. Born in 1975, he is famous worldwide and in Russia for winning the national championship 13 times. Accolades include World Draughts Championship titles in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019. Many critics believe he is one of the best players of all time, growing up when the USSR dominated European draughts competitions.

Derek Oldbury

Derek Oldbury was a British draughts player born in 1924 in Devon. He had a famous rivalry with Marion Tinsley and is regarded as the second-best player of all time.

Oldbury’s main passion was for Go As You Please (GAYP) draughts, where players can select their opening moves. He enjoyed the freedom this gave him to develop new strategies compared to the 3-move variant, where players must accept three random moves being made for them.

Despite his fame, Oldbury only competed in seven world championships. He won three titles, two in 1976 and one in 1991. The man’s obsession with the game may have arisen from being born a paraplegic. It was an intellectual outlet for him, and a pathway to an interesting and varied life.

Oldbury also made significant contributions to the theory of checkers, writing The Complete Encyclopedia of Draughts, a 6-volume tome spanning thousands of pages.

Marion Tinsley

Marion Tinsley was perhaps the greatest checkers player of all time. The mathematician, born in 1927, won numerous world championships between 1955 and 1991 in a career that spanned nearly four decades. He never lost a championship match and only lost seven contests across his career, either when drunk or playing against computer programs. Oldbury once said that Tinsley was to checkers what Beethoven was to music.

Legend has it that Tinsley became interested in checkers after reading a book on the subject by Millard Hopper. Around 1945, he began competing in various tournaments and won the Southern Louisiana Open that year. A year later finished second in the Newark National Tourney, losing by a slim margin in the final.

Tinsley dominated in the Ohio State Opens in the following years, winning in 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949. He also won six Cedar Point tourneys between 1946 and 1952 and the Canadian Open twice in 1949 and 1950.

During the 1950s, Tinsley’s career took off, and he became an 8-time 3-move champion, winning in 1954, 1955, 1958, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987 and 1989. He also won an old-format 2-move world championship in 1952.

Tinsley was a genius from the outset. As a child, he competed in various spelling bees and math competitions to gain affection from his parents. As his talents emerged, Tinsley skipped four of his first eight grades and graduated from high school at age 15. Then, he went to Ohio State University, where he studied for a doctorate in mathematical combinatorics, a branch of math suited to exploring checkers.

Tinsley claims he spends around 10,000 hours studying checkers while in graduate school. This experience enabled him to understand the game deeply, letting him play the best possible move, no matter the situation on the board. His genius as a professor of mathematics provided him with unique insights he could use to vanquish his opponents.

Tinsley took a break from professional checkers tournaments between 1958 and 1975, perhaps to let other players make their mark. During this time, Oldbury was dominant. However, once Tinsley returned to the sport it was clear who was the greatest of all time, settling a long-standing debate on who would win if the two players went head to head.

In the 1990s, Tinsley began playing against new computer opponents, including the Chinook computer program. Incredibly, he won 4-2 with 33 draws against the machine.

Later analysis by Chinook’s creator Jonathan Schaeffer found that Tinsley’s tenth move was the only play he could have made that would have let him win 64 moves later. The programmer speculated that Tinsley could see dozens of moves into the future, which is why he could win so convincingly in competitions.

Tinsley played an upgraded version of Chinook in 1994. The pair played six matches that all resulted in draws before the legendary player had to withdraw for health reasons. He died a year later.

Guntis Valneris

Guntis Valneris is a player who came to prominence in the mid-1990s following the death of Tinsley. Born in Riga, Latvia, he won the World Championship in 1994 and became a two-time European champion in 1992 and 2008, as well as winning other World Championships in fast draughts in 1999 and 2007.

Valneris began playing draughts when he was ten years old under coach Viktor Adamovich. Within 12 months, the young player won the Latvian under-18s championship, going on to win more titles in the USSR.

In the 1980s, Valneris switched to international draughts, winning the World Junior Championship three times in a row. Then, in 1985, he won his first senior Latvian draughts title.

Valneris’s performance continued to improve throughout the late 1980s and 1990s as he began enjoying the top flight of the sport. He earned a silver at the World Championships in 1990 and 1991, 1995, and 2000, in addition to his victories in other years, making him the person other players had to beat. High placements continued until 2019 when he placed third.

Wrapping Up

In summary, checkers is a game regarded with fondness across the world. While Tinsley drove its popularity on the American scene, it became a treasured part of the culture, evoking nostalgia, warmth, and friendship. Unlike chess, the public perceived it as a friendly, accessible game, perhaps explaining why it has so many references in pop culture.

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