Rank the castaways in order of best to worst in terms of how good they would be at chess. My son's really into chess now and we've brought this
question up at my house. I'm curious as to what you think.

Once again lm, I just love the threads you come up with!!

I've been thinking about this and don't have to solid of an answer as I don't play chess myself and only have mimimul knowledge of the game.

However I will take a wack at it!
From best to worse:
The Professor- he mentions being the number one man on his school's Chess team
The Howells- they might be the only ones besides the Professor who played
Ginger- While I can't see her playing for leisure or enjoyment I would consider her strategic when necessary.
Gilligan- I'm not sure he would be good at planning out moves in advace but I can see him playing once in awhile
The Skipper- I don't think he would have enough patience for the game
MaryAnn- I don't see her as having the right logic for the game

What does your son think, lm?

I'll have to ask my son and my husband also but here are my guesses in the meantime:

Professor
Thirston
Skipper
Gilligan
Ginger
Lovey
Maryann

I have my doubts about my choices--your point about Skipper and impatience is a good one. I was picturing his probably having been acquainted with chess over his years aboard ship, in bars, etc. and his familiarity with planning military moves, etc. I agree about Maryann. I know my husband also put her last and said he'd love to see me play with her: "it would be a cacophany of bad moves."

Here's my son's reply:

Professor
Skipper
Thirston
Lovey
Maryann
Ginger
Gilligan

I strongly disagree with his last three choices--he's very young. He chose Maryann over Ginger because he didn't think chess would be something Ginger would want to play and he likes to call Gilligan a dope, etc. so Gilligan always comes out last in any of his choices like this.

^That's okay, at least he contributed, lol. It's nice to hear that there are younger kids still being raised on Gilligan's Island. More to you, lm, for bringing him up the right way! ;-)

Well, so far we all seem to be in agreement over the number one chess player. It'd be interesting to see how this list would change for some other game, such as say, Scabble, Monopoly, Clue, ect. Just a thought.

The professor
Mr.Howell
The skipper
Mary Ann
Gilligan
Mrs.Howell
Ginger