On Sunday morning, my unemployed friend John texted me with an intriguing opinion: “Clash of royal is harder than chess,” he declared.
For those unaware (i.e., anyone with a job or a girlfriend), Clash Royale (which is what John meant to say) is a mobile strategy game where players build 8-card “decks” of deployable troops, then face off in head-to-head matchups. Since its 2016 release, Clash Royale has logged over 600 million downloads and awarded players over 10 million dollars in esports tournament winnings.
Chess, meanwhile, has for centuries remained the Western world’s premier test of tabletop sagacity. Since its meteoric rise to popularity sometime around the turn of the first millennium, the classic 64-square grid has endured as a symbol of wit and intellectual prowess. So, John’s claim that Clash Royale deserves its long-held crown is certainly a bold one. But does it hold any merit?
The question is a divisive one, among both Notre Dame students and the internet. One clear argument in favor of Clash Royale is the sheer number of possible states the game offers. This is the opinion preferred by sophomore Kevin Schaars, who currently sits at 9,753 trophies. “It requires more adaptability,” Schaars said. “There are significantly more ways to be disadvantaged. That is not the case in chess.”
Chess, however, has endured centuries of theory, history and development — much of which must be memorized to truly master the game. Magnus Carlsen, the top-rated player in the world, has reportedly memorized over 10,000 games of chess. “Chess doesn’t change, so you have to know everything,” senior Aidan Murray said.
It soon became clear that just asking around my dorm would not solve this dilemma. Desperate, I turned to the most wretched source of information I could conceive: I put out a poll on Fizz. The results were fascinating, but ultimately unhelpful. Out of 516 responses, 49% thought Clash Royale was harder while 51% favored chess.
I questioned a few respondents and got similarly divided answers. Many thought chess’ high-skill ceiling earned it the win. Others praised Clash Royale for requiring quick thinking and reflexes. One freshman delivered perhaps the wisest opinion, sagely declaring, “Chess only has knights. Clash has the evolved mega knight. The choice is clear.”
In a final, last-ditch effort to put an end to the question, I reached out to reigning FIDE world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju and top-rated Clash Royale player Mohamed Light, offering to schedule a match where they could prove their respective strengths. Unfortunately, neither deigned to respond.
Perhaps it’s best to accept that the question will never truly be answered. The games are simply far too different. John, though, eventually managed to reach a satisfactory conclusion that rings undeniably true: “Really neither is skill based,” he decided. “It’s just how much autism you were born with.”
