A strange little side quest
There is a neat bit of history hiding behind the kind of play you find in The Chess: A Clash of Kings. The word 'checkmate' is linked to the Persian expression 'shah mat', used when the king was trapped. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Pong was field-tested in California bars in 1972 and helped launch the modern arcade-game era. It is a good reminder that simple game mechanics can carry a surprising amount of history.