The students and the great Franeker draughts board

Draughts was formerly played on a chessboard with sixty-four squares. It was not until the end of the sixteenth century that the separate draughts board with one hundred squares came into existence. The first time such a board is mentioned is in the estate of Johannes Velsius from 1601. Johannes is a Leeuwarden mayor and his son Jacob studies in Franeker. Remarkably, the oldest draughts boards in the world all come from the area around Franeker. Who invented the great draughts board is unknown. However, it is quite conceivable that Franeker students, with their knowledge of mathematics and arithmetic, played a role in this.

It is pleasantly busy in the tavern room. In the corner by the window sits a group of students. Two of them – Jacob and Homme – are bent over a game of draughts. They are the star players of the group. The rest sit around them and argue passionately about every move. Bets have been placed on the outcome.

But then Jacob suddenly pushes the board away from him: 'I'm quitting. This will just be another draw!' For a moment the group is struck dumb. Then it erupts: 'How can you say that!?' – 'This makes no sense!' – 'Keep playing, man, I've got money on this!' But Jacob is unmovable. Everyone is shouting at once and tempers are running high. Chairs fall over and there is pushing and shoving. Someone loses their balance and tumbles over the table. With a crash, the draughts board falls to the floor.

Then the innkeeper intervenes: 'Stop! Otherwise I'll throw you out!' The startled students stop their commotion. Chairs are put upright; the draughts board comes back on the table and everyone sits down quietly again. 'But why don't you want to play anymore?' the students ask. 'And how can you be so sure it would have been a draw?'

Finally, Jacob can now explain calmly: 'This playing board is too small! On a board with sixty-four squares you simply can't move in enough directions. Once you have your pieces positioned here and there, it's a foregone conclusion! Every game between two reasonable players always ends in a draw!'

'But just imagine..' Jacob continues, as he stands up. He takes a burnt piece of coal from the fireplace and starts drawing lines and areas on the table around the draughts board with it: '..If we now add an extra row of squares all around the board.. And each player gets eight extra draughts pieces.. Then you have many more possibilities! Then a draw becomes much more difficult!'

The rest of the afternoon the students play an unusual game with draughts pieces, corks and pennies on and around the board. For the first time in history, draughts is played on a 100-square board. And ever since, the Franeker students have never done it any other way.