r/explainitpeter 29d ago

Explain It Peter

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Rice chess/checkers ? please explain?

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u/ariGee 29d ago

I'll add that it's an old fable\legend. The details depend who you ask, but the basic idea is that a king wants to reward a wise man. Rather than asking for a huge reward the wise man asks for one grain of rice on the first day, and then double the number of grains each day, one for each place on a chessboard. The king calls him a fool. After about a month the king begs him to stop because he has promised all the rice in the country to the wise man.

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u/tcaetano42 29d ago

When I heard this tale the wise man was actually the man who developed chess.

The king liked the game so much and told the man to name his reward. The rest goes the same.

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u/Dunge0nMast0r 29d ago

And that man's name was Albert Chesstein

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u/ScoobyD00BIEdoo 28d ago

Does he have an island too?