Since BOKU is a word with two syllables, and since the box very clearly says that it is a game with two rules, I decided to interview the top two medal winners in the Junior BOKU tournament, Gold Medal winner Shani Chachamu from London and Silver Medal winner Jonathan Shapiro from Middlesex.

BOKU (the O has a bar over it, reminding us that it is pronounced with the long O sound), at quick glance, is a rather intriguing game. The hexagonal playing board has 80 playing spaces, and includes four compartments that hold the marbles not yet in play (36 each of two colours).

RULE 1

Rule 1 is fairly simple. Starting with Black, two players alternate taking turns, placing marbles onto the board, until one player wins by getting five or more marbles in a straight-line, adjacent, row.

RULE 2

Rule 2 sounds complicated, but it is really simple when you get used to it. Called the "Sandwich Rule", it allows you to remove one of your opponent's marbles by surrounding exactly two of his marbles with two of yours in a direct line. Once you make the sandwich, you remove your choice of one of those two surrounded marbles, and give it back to your opponent.

On his next move only, he may not move back into the spot you just removed the marble from, but that restriction only applies to the very next move. Though this second rule might sound complicated, it really is quite simple, once you read the example on the back of the box, and play a few games.

WINNER 1

Shani Chachamu recently turned 14 and is going into Year Ten at school. She played BOKU for the first time at last year's Mind Sports Olympiad, though she did not enter last year's tournament. She went home and "I" so that she could play the game with some of her friends. At the awards ceremony, Shani commented, "I don't even own the game", at which point the game's inventor, Rob Nelson, handed all youth winners deluxe copies of the game. She continued, "but now I do. With a real board, I can get serious".

Shani loves to play computer games, and any mind games, especially Rummikub, Othello and Abalone. She does not remember how long ago she started playing games. She loves games "because they make you think".

Her favourite subjects at Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Gardens are Maths, English and Science. She is streamed at the top level in Maths (which she had to tell me how to spell). She is looking forward to taking her GCSE exams.

She loves to read books. Her favourite authors are J K Rowling (Harry Potter), J R R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and C S Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), and many more. She says that she has read the Chronicles of Narnia at least a dozen times. Just how much she reads became obvious when she recommended the "Conversations with God" series of books to me, and even quoted the author, Neale Donald Walsch.

Shani is not sure what the future holds for her, but she certainly has many directions that her life might lead. I asked what she loves to do. She told me that she loves to paint (she starts with a photograph then paints her interpretation of what she sees) and that she loves to recommend Conversations With God to people. Since she loves to recommend it, here is a link where you can read what other people say about the books.

WINNER 2

Jonathan Shapiro, ten years old, is going into Year Six at school. He started playing BOKU eighteen months ago when he bought the game at Hamley's. He beat everyone in the hotel while on vacation. His mother found a coupon in the box about a BOKU competition and mailed it off. Months later, they were invited to the Mind Sports Olympiad, so Jonathan started practicing in earnest.

Jonathan loves to play Chess at school, computer games, Awari and Draughts. He does not remember when he started to play games. In other words, both of our winners started playing games so long ago that they don't remember not playing games. When I asked why he loves games, he said, "They're fun and they're different every time".

Jonathan's favourite subjects at St. John's School in Northwood are Maths and Science. When he's not playing games, he likes to play football, watch football, and read books. His favourite authors are J K Rowling and Phillip Ridley. His mother reminded him to tell me that he read 'Harry Potter and the Goblets of Fire' in one week. He reminded me that his football is what I think of as soccer (American).

Eventually, Jonathan would like to be a doctor.

TWO RULES, TWO WINNERS, TWO CONCLUSIONS

I've enjoyed meeting people at the Mind Sports Olympiad, and have found a few things that everyone seems to have in common.

Everyone I've talked to loves to read. Since so many of the people nowadays seem to be more in love with television than books, it is a pleasure to run into people who love to read, and, in fact, to talk to people who love to recommend books to each other. In any case, it is a pleasure to meet people, and I'm having more fun interviewing people than I am at playing in the tournaments.

BOKU certainly looks like a very interesting game, and though I did not know about the game before this convention, I look forward to learning it, and perhaps playing a game against the inventor next year. I have a copy of the game in my box.