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In the English Mishna Brurah they translate טשי"ך as chess. The Mishna Brurah brings the Marah Sasson who forbids it because there is no chachma. It is also mentioned in the Rama that it makes noise, and as far as I know chess does not involve noise? Also, the Aruch Hashulchan says the pieces hit each other, he also gives another name for the game (מייליסקע"ס, seems similar to kugalach) not sure if it translates as chess. The Magen Avraham gives yet another name for the game. So, which game does the Rama refer to?

A side point: The gemarah in Kesubas 61b names a game and Rashi calls it chess with the name אישקקי"ש. The common Hebrew name for chess today is שחמט.

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    torahmusings.com/2013/05/chess-in-jewish-law
    – moses
    Commented Aug 12, 2013 at 2:03
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    @MoriDoweedhYa3gob, the name shachmat appears in many languages, all deriving ultimately from Persian/Farsi (or one of its ancestors, like Old Persian. I don't know how old Persian, or this word, is). English chess derives from Persian shah ("king"), the etymon of half of shachmat. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rama's tshich does, too, just based on how it looks, but that's a guess.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Aug 12, 2013 at 5:19
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    @MoriDoweedhYa3gob, SethJ, checkmate also comes from Persian and is cognate to other languages' shachmat. Check is from Persian shah.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Aug 12, 2013 at 16:50
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    Your idea about kugelach is correct. It was historically played with טשי"ך bones (perhaps that's why the game is commonly called "jacks"). Several early acharonim discuss this bone in the context of hilchos t'reifos. Also, the term used by the Aruch HaShulchan sounds kind of like the Lithuanian for "malleolus of the ankle".
    – Fred
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 3:55
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    @user6591 I also considered בריקיקלי as a corruption of alquerque, but mention of bones points more to knucklebones. The S"G explicitly discusses chess ("שקאק") in a quote from the Or Zarua' later in אות ג. Apparently on this basis, the Magen Avraham (338:8) interprets טשי"ך as chess, although the Rama's mention of "עצמות שקורין טשי"ך" suggests (IMHO) he is citing the earlier part of the S"G about "העצמות שקורין בריקיקלי". Also, other early acharonim describe the טשי"ך as the astragalus bone.
    – Fred
    Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 6:40

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In the Dirshu Mishna Berura (based on the "Leshem") print, it is translated in a footnote as a game similar to "חמש אבנים" (lit. five stones) - when I was a kid it was called kuglach. It's similar to the game of jacks.

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