A strange little side quest
Even a quick game like Crystal Wizards sits on top of decades — and sometimes centuries — of ideas. Barbie Fashion Designer became a major software hit in 1996, selling more than 500,000 copies in two months and proving there was a large audience for fashion-focused computer play. The broader history adds one more wrinkle. The word 'checkmate' is linked to the Persian expression 'shah mat', used when the king was trapped. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
