"Too many rules," the professor explained. "Too predictable. The outcomes can be all mapped out - chance doesn't play a part. And chess really is just a more complicated version of Gwyddbwyll or Tallfwrdd." Rhys pronounces the two Welsh games with a lilting, melodious accent.

"I prefer Bryncir or Tarok." The first, a 16th-century Welsh card game, the second one she might be familiar with - a trick taking Eastern European card game played with Tarot cards.