Scott Tepper: Cecil Locke’s Touch & Go Chess Party

When we think of careers in boardgaming, the professions that first come to mind are usually designer, shop owner, and publisher. Cecil Locke has done what most successful businessmen have done and created a unique enterprise to fill a previously untapped void. About nine years ago, he set up some chessboards at one of Chicago’s street fairs. The large crowd that these games drew prompted him to design his Touch & Go Chess Party.

Cecil Locke’s Chess Party is really an elaborately constructed multi-board chess table that’s made to be easily portable. The table was designed and put together by Locke so that he could take it around the city via the elevated train. Even the signs and banners decorating the contraption were painted by Locke, who is a sign painter in the colder months when putting out the table won’t generate any income.

The Touch & Go Chess Party

The Chess table does make money. Between the boards, there is a slot for players to deposit their donations. For $2.00, players can play all day at the table. The fee to play at one of the two boards that are set up for checkers is $1.00. Cecil acknowledges, though, that the main draw is Chess, and all boards are frequently in play. On a busy day, especially at festivals, the Touch & Go Chess Party—which gets its name from the street rule that you must move the piece you touch—Locke can make up to $200. Not bad for a venture that, after the production cost, creates virtually pure profit every day.

Cecil Locke, in the blue shirt


Locke brings his table daily to the edge of Grant Park, along Michigan Ave, in good weather from noon till about 10:00 in the evening. He used to bring his table to Millennium Park, just to the North of his current spot, but although he is licensed as a street performer, he was pushed out of that location due to city laws.


Every day is a Party


Still, people find him. The Touch & Go Chess Party has many regulars, and Cecil has been featured in articles in the major and minor newspapers in Chicago. After each article, more people search him out.  As the Chess table is unique and colorful, every few minutes surprised and impressed tourists passing by pull out cameras to take pictures of the spectacle. Cecil, ever the businessman, constantly slips into salesperson mode to entice the shyer customers into playing.

It’s no wonder that the table acts like a magnet, drawing people in. According to Cecil, there isn’t another one like it in the world. When fully extended, it displays 12 boards and is 30 feet long. At the end of the day, it folds down to a mobile 52 inches. The table sports money collection devices, chess timers, and even a boombox that’s set to stations that play classic rock, jazz and R&B.


I know it looks like it’ll electrocute you, but that’s just where the money goes


Given my recent reintroduction to Chess via my laptop’s version of the game, I couldn’t resist asking Cecil if he’d let me play a game against him. This was a little gutsy on my part, as Cecil admitted to playing on average about 30 games of chess a day. As we started to play, I quickly realized that my computer was far more aggressive than Cecil is. He plays more cautiously, and I was able to hold my own against him…for a while. It would have been too much for me to expect to beat him. I was doing pretty well, but then became careless and lost my queen to his bishop. It was downhill from there. I have to admit, though, that I survived longer than I had expected to.


Behind Cecil’s back during play


Although the Touch & Go Chess Party is the only one currently in existence, it will soon be no longer unique. In response to demand by street fairs, Locke is currently working on a second table that will be manned by one of his friends or his son. Maybe in a few years the Touch & Go Chess Party will expand to your town. You know what they say about filling a demand…

© 2007 Scott Tepper

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Comments:

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Interesting!  Thanks for the article! Posted by Phil Schwarzmann on Sep 10, 2007 at 04:07 AM | #

It would be cool to make the second table with one chess board and 11 of the best Eurogame boards! Posted by Jeff Allers on Sep 10, 2007 at 06:04 AM | #

Nice article, Scott. Posted by Kevin Wood on Sep 10, 2007 at 08:08 AM | #

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