Board And Table Games From Many Civilizations

This encyclopedic volume provides the rules and methods of play for more than 180 different games: Ma-jong, Hazard, Wei-ch'i (Go), Backgammon, Pachisi, and many others. Over 300 photographs and line drawings.

For thousands of years, people have been planning attacks, captures, chases, and conquests - on a variety of different boards designed for an astonishing diversity of games. Today the compelling mix of strategy, skill, and chance is as strong as ever; new board games are invented almost daily,while the perennial favourites continue to attract new devotees and reveal new possibilities. The Oxford History of Board Games investigates the principles of board games throughout the ages and across the world, exploring the fascinating similarities and differences that give each its unique appeal, and drawing out the significance of game-playing as a central part of human experience - asvital to a culture as its music, dance, and tales. Beautifully illustrated and with diagrams to show the finer points of the games, this is a fascinating and accessible guide to a richly rewarding subject. In his trade-mark accessible, entertaining style, David Parlett looks at the different families of games: games based on configuration or connection, races or chases, wars or hunts, capture or blockade. He focuses mainly on traditional games, the folk entertainments that have grown up organicallythrough the centuries, and which exhibit endless local variations, although he discusses also the commercial products that have tried, with varying degrees of success, to match their astonishing popularity. This is not primarily a how-to book, although the rules and strategies of certain games are discussed in detail, neither does it offer sure-fire tips for success, although with a fuller understanding of a game the reader will undoubtedly become a better-informed, if not better, player. Rather, itis an affectionate and authoritative survey of one of the most familiar parts of our cultural history, which has until now been inexplicably neglected.

Discover and Delight in Old-Fashioned Board Games from the Past Discover the world of old-fashioned board games from Wall Street Journal acclaimed Adrian Seville, an international expert on the cultural history of printed board games. The golden age of board games. Explore the world of vintage board games in this lavishly illustrated book that traces their evolution and cultural significance. From geography and moral lessons to just fun, discover the diverse array of old-fashioned board games from a bygone era. Step back in time. Delve into a bygone era of gaming with this remarkable illustrated board game book. It showcases the exquisite artistry and ingenuity of these games, which covered themes ranging from educational to gambling to simply pure entertainment. Learn all about the moral board games that aimed to instill proper behavior or immerse yourself in the excitement of lottery board games, all while gaining insights into the cultural influences that shaped these games. The Book of Vintage Board Games offers a glimpse into where games started in Europe and the emergence of board games in America. Inside explore: The history of geography board games and more Distant lands through war or journey board games A treasure trove of beautifully designed boards each reflecting its unique historical context If you enjoyed board game books such as Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, Oxford History of Board Games, or Seven Games: A Human History, then you will love Adrian Seville’s The Book of Vintage Board Games.

This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to teach archaeological concepts in interesting and engaging ways.

Jan Huizinga and Roger Caillois have already taught us to realize how important games and play have been for pre-modern civilization. Recent research has begun to acknowledge the fundamental importance of these aspects in cultural, religious, philosophical, and literary terms. This volume expands on the traditional approach still very much focused on the materiality of game (toys, cards, dice, falcons, dolls, etc.) and acknowledges that game constituted also a form of coming to terms with human existence in an unstable and volatile world determined by universal randomness and fortune. Whether considering blessings or horse fighting, falconry or card games, playing with dice or dolls, we can gain a much deeper understanding of medieval and early modern society when we consider how people pursued pleasure and how they structured their leisure time. The contributions examine a wide gamut of approaches to pleasure, considering health issues, eroticism, tournaments, playing music, reading and listening, drinking alcohol, gambling and throwing dice. This large issue was also relevant, of course, in non-Christian societies, and constitutes a critical concern both for the past and the present because we are all homines ludentes.