"I was one of those nerdy kids in fifth grade who spent lunch hour playing chess," recalls Professor Donald Green explaining his lifelong passion for games. What began as a childhood fascination evolved in Green's case into an adult boredom with the limited brain-teasing capacity of board games such as checkers, chess and backgammon. Then came the much-publicized man vs. machine bout between Gary Kasparov and Deep Blue, when the computer put its flesh-and-blood opponent -- and, by extension, the human race -- into checkmate, and Green heard opportunity knocking. "We need to challenge computers to games that have as many strategic options as possible," he surmised, as he set about devising such a game. The result was OCTI, a new game of strategy, which, according to Green, can outsmart the smartest computer. The board game, with its octagonal shaped pieces and elegantly simple rules, made its media debut on June 11 in the library of the Institute for Social Policy Studies. Green, a professor of political science who specializes in the study of hate crimes and campaign financing, is the director of the institute. Members of the press took notes, flash bulbs popped and TV cameras took aim as a dozen or so already initiated OCTI players demonstrated how the game works and competed against each other for prizes. Some of the players, like veteran OCTI enthusiast Dean Takahashi, were serious contenders for the trophy treasure chest of games donated by OCTI's manufacturer, The Great American Trading Company. Others were there simply to learn how to play. "It's a game for every age," proclaimed Yale Gordon, a marketing manager for the manufacturer who was on hand for the media event. A hybrid of several classic board games -- chess and checkers, in particular -- OCTI's rules are easy to learn. The game pieces are octagonal "pods" with a hole carved in each side. These pieces are allowed to move one space only in the direction the pegs fitted into their holes are pointing. At each turn, a player must decide whether to add a peg to a pod, move a piece or add another pod to the board. A player can eliminate an opponent's pods by jumping over them with his/her pieces, as in checkers. To win, a player must land on one of the opponent's "home" squares. The element of chance plays no role in OCTI. The game is designed to be especially appealing to someone with a good handle on spatial relations and a strong competitive spirit. At the OCTI demonstration, Mike Fitzgerald, who makes a living as a game tester and inventor, exuded with the excitement of a prospector who has just struck gold. "It's the best thing I've seen in at least 10 years," he said. He predicts a successful future for the game, which is being marketed nationally and internationally at bookstores and specialty game stores. The game can also be played at the OCTI web site, www.octi.net. Meanwhile, Green, who has invented six other original games in his spare time (OCTI is the first to be marketed), is happy to report that no gaming success in the world would make him quit his daytime job. -- By Dorie Baker Green's OCTI continues New Haven's gaming tradition If Professor Donald Green's new strategy game OCTI does capture the public imagination, it won't be the first popular plaything to emerge from Yale and environs. In fact, OCTI might help establish New Haven -- home of Silly Putty, the original Frisbee and Erector Sets -- as the cradle of clever toys. Silly Putty -- the shiny, pliable substance that could be used to pick up the print of a favorite comic or rolled into a ball and bounced -- was developed as synthetic rubber in 1943 in the New Haven laboratory of General Electric. In 1949, an unemployed marketing wizard by the name of Peter Hodgson discovered the bouncy "gupp," as it was then known, and had the inspired idea of selling it as a toy. Unable to keep up with the demand for his new product, he enlisted the help of Yale students to stuff plastic egg shells with the putty. Professor of Music and renowned jazz musician Willie Ruff was among Hodgson's Silly Putty pioneers. Though it is almost undisputed that the name Frisbee originated at Yale -- derived from the local Frisbie Pie Company, a favorite of Eli students -- it is less certain that disc throwing itself is of New Haven provenance. The sport of tossing around a round flat object may be as old as Homo erectus. Nonetheless, the modern game and toy now known as Frisbee is still associated with those Yale students who early in the century whiled away their leisure time hurling pie plates at each other. About Erector sets there is no question. The ultimate building toy before the rise of Legos, Erector sets were the original brainchild of A.C. Gilbert, who earned his M.D. at Yale and later established a factory in New Haven. The inventor of other popular toys -- magic sets and American Flyer trains among them -- Gilbert, like Silly Putty mogul Hodgson, gained enormous wealth from his playful inventions. T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S Alumni elect Roland W. Betts as new trustee To the Yale Community Murder on the Nile? Examination suggests Peabody mummy met with . . . Study shows quality of child care affects school performance Endowed Professorships Literary critic Harold Bloom awarded Gold Medal . . . Academy of Arts and Sciences taps three Yale faculty Exhibit recalls art and poetry inspired by the Great War Downtown program will add local flavor to International Festival . . . 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 Political scientist Donald Green found most board games unchallenging, so he decided to invent his own, OCTI, a new strategy game.