In Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson (Penguin Books), Thomas Paine plays checkers in London, circa 1792. On page 222 Nelson quotes Paine's friend and early biographer Thomas "Clio" Rickman:
Mr. Paine's life in London was a quiet round of philosophical leisure and enjoyment....At this time he read but little, took his nap after dinner, and played with my family at some game in the evening, as chess, dominos, and drafts,...
It is common in eighteenth century spelling to spell words that today would be non-standard, thus drafts(sic) for draughts.
A good companion volume to Craig Nelson's Thomas Paine is the The Thomas Paine Reader, edited by Michael Foot and Isaac Kramnick (Penguin Books). Michael Foot (1913-2010) was a long-term member of Parliament, and as Leader of the Labour Party (1980-1983) was Leader of the Opposition to then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Isaac Kramnick (1938-2019) was an American scholar of early Anglo-American politics, and is not to be confused with World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik.
--George Hay
Thomas Paine Plays Checkers
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George Hay
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