[Science is] a great game. It is inspiring and refreshing. The playing field is the universe itself. Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988) U. S. physicist. Nobel prize 1944.

The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95) English biologist.

Pure mathematics is the world's best game. It is more absorbing than chess, more of a gamble than poker, and lasts longer than Monopoly. It's free. It can be played anywhere - Archimedes did it in a bathtub." Richard J. Trudeau, U.S. Mathematician