Chess and Rubber Ducks

"I wouldn't join a club that would have me as a member" is not quite what Groucho Marx once said, but it is close enough. This was also the thought that crossed my mind when I read that the "Toy Hall of Fame" had just voted to accept the Rubber Duck and Chess for its 2013 intake. While I guess it is nice for Chess to be recognised by such a prestigious institution, it is worth noting that this is the 16th year that toys and games have been recognised. I would have thought that a board game that was the model for just about every other board game ever invented would have been recognised before now, but maybe everyone thought it was such an obvious inclusion that someone else was going to nominate it. Bizarrely Checkers was enshrined in 2003, while possibly the worst game ever invented, "The Game of Life", made it in 2010.

(Note: One of the best reviews of a game I ever saw concerned "The Game of Life": "You spend your time spinning a wheel and doing exactly as you are told. There is only one decision required to be made, 'Do I play this crappy game or not' ")