Joe Joyce wrote on Tue, Aug 20, 2013 01:30 PM UTC:
Hi, Larry. I was always a sucker for a collaboration. The thing that struck
me as a false note was something you commented on, too - the "based on 4"
bit. They would, I suspect, say chess was based on 2, because the main
pieces come in pairs, and the pawns are a multiple of 2. The other thing
that bothered me most was that there are 2 "styles" (at least) to the
'game' pieces. The pillar pieces are more crudely carved/finished than
the pyramid or pig, for example. The final bit, of course, is that the
coloration doesn't indicate game pieces, at least to moderns. So, sure,
what did you have in mind?