DAILY DIRT: Monopoly? No. Scrabble? No. Strat-O-Matic? No. How about chess?

Bonus points if you can tell me what song (and who sang it) that featured the term the term “cerebral fitness”. The answer will appear in Friday’s Daily Dirt … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 829 of The Daily Dirt.

1. The top-selling board/tabletop game of all-time?

“Monopoly,” you say?

Wrong.

It’s chess, that timeless test of cerebral fitness. Surprised? Here’s the top 10 all-time best-sellers, according to the fun.com website:

1. Chess: The total number of units sold is unknown, but more than 3 million units are sold annually in the U.S. alone.
2. Checkers: 50 billion units have been sold since the game’s introduction.
3. Monopoly: More than 275 million of these games have been bought over the years.
4. Scrabble: For me, this is mildly  surprising, but there have been more than 150 million units sold. Unofficially, 149 million of those Scrabble purchasers are cheaters.
5. Clue: More than 150 million units sold.
6. Battleship: More than 100 million units sold.
7. Trivial Pursuit: More than 100 million units sold. I would guess that one time, probably in the 1980s, this was higher in this listing.
8. Backgammon: More than 88 million units of the modern version sold. I have never been able to wrap my competitive arms around this one.
9. Candy Land: More than 50 million units sold. Never in my life have I played Candyland.
10. Rummikub: More than 50 million units sold. I have absolutely no idea was this even is.

2. This week’s top celebrity birthdays include:

• NBA rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama is 20 today.
• Singer (and the term is used loosely) Marilyn Manson is 55, also today.
• Singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins will be 76 on Sunday.
• Actor Nicholas Cage turns 60, also on Sunday.
• Singer Crystal Gayle blows out 73 candles on Tuesday.

3.  This might come in handy in winning an argument some day.

The three most popular colors found in the world’s flags are red, white and blue. I know, not a shocker.

But …

Only one flag has a dash of purple, and that belongs to the Caribbean island of Dominica. The flag also features the national bird, the purple-plumed Sisserou parrot, which lives in the country’s remote mountain forests (or so I am told). 

Steve Thought O’ The Day — I’ve never really understood the fascination with checkers.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. How is Strat-O-Matic not on the top-selling games list???