All The King's Horses is a story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and published in his collection of short stories Welcome to the Monkey House. All The King's Horses is a story about a military colonel who crashes behind enemy lines during the Korean war (or is it Vietnam) and is forced to play a game of chess against the Korean general for the lives of his men, his wife, and his two kids. The twist is that the game is played on a huge chess board sized for humans. The Korean general uses life sized pieces, while the American colonel is required to play with his men and his family. His wife is the queen, his two kids knights, and if a piece of his is taken then the person filling the role of the piece is killed. Fun stuff.