Having enjoyed and then agonized over the Cincinnati Bengals making the Super Bowl in the 2021 season and losing to the Los Angeles Rams in February 2022, Mike Schroeder was a little lost the following year when his favorite NFL team made another playoff run.

His wife was pregnant with the couple's third child, and he wanted to get his then-5-year-old daughter, Ella, into it with him.

“I’m watching what are life-changing games for me but with no one to share them with,” Schroeder said. “My big takeaway was like, ‘She’s not interested because she doesn’t understand what’s happening. And I’m totally ineffective and have been ineffective at teaching her the rules of the sport or how it works.’"

Schroeder recalled a storybook about chess he and Ella had done to learn about that game and d

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