4/12/14
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the trip to the British Museum, which was very disappointing.
Although I know what that the group intended on meeting Irving Finkel and being shown the exhibits by him. Paying most attention to the ancient games collected at the museum.
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Games Britannia, Monopolies & Mergers
27/11/14
Today we watched the second part to the Games Britannia three part series, Monopolies and Mergers. In this episode presenter and historian Benjamin Wooley, talks about the political and social impact that board games have had over the last 200 years in Britain. He investigates how the British developed the idea of board games being used as an instrument of moral instruction.
One of these was the game Monopoly, this is one of the best selling games in history. It was based on a radical socialist game from Britain in 1913. Benjamin Wooley then showed us the progession and development of games such as Scrabble and Cluedo and how games have evolved into what we play today.
Today we watched the second part to the Games Britannia three part series, Monopolies and Mergers. In this episode presenter and historian Benjamin Wooley, talks about the political and social impact that board games have had over the last 200 years in Britain. He investigates how the British developed the idea of board games being used as an instrument of moral instruction.
One of these was the game Monopoly, this is one of the best selling games in history. It was based on a radical socialist game from Britain in 1913. Benjamin Wooley then showed us the progession and development of games such as Scrabble and Cluedo and how games have evolved into what we play today.
Ancient Games, Tablut
20/11/14
Today we played and discussed Tablut and other tafl games. Tablut is a game played on a 9x9 square board. The white pieces in the center of the board surround the white King and serve to protect the King and to try prevent the King from being taken by the attacking black pieces. The sixteen black pieces on the edges of the board, surround the white pieces.
The goal is for the King to escape to the edge of the board or a corner square, depending on the sourced rules. The black pieces try to capture the white King by surrounding him on all four sides or two sides, depending on the sourced rules.
Pieces move the same way as a rook in chess. any amount of spaces in an orthogonal direction. Pieces can not jump other pieces, they may cross the center square but can not land on it. The King can not return to the center square after he has moved. Pieces may be captured when they are trapped from two opposite sides by the opponents pieces. However pieces can move between opposing pieces without being captured. The King can take part in captures, to capture the King he must be surrounded from all four (or two) sides.
Today we played and discussed Tablut and other tafl games. Tablut is a game played on a 9x9 square board. The white pieces in the center of the board surround the white King and serve to protect the King and to try prevent the King from being taken by the attacking black pieces. The sixteen black pieces on the edges of the board, surround the white pieces.
The goal is for the King to escape to the edge of the board or a corner square, depending on the sourced rules. The black pieces try to capture the white King by surrounding him on all four sides or two sides, depending on the sourced rules.
Pieces move the same way as a rook in chess. any amount of spaces in an orthogonal direction. Pieces can not jump other pieces, they may cross the center square but can not land on it. The King can not return to the center square after he has moved. Pieces may be captured when they are trapped from two opposite sides by the opponents pieces. However pieces can move between opposing pieces without being captured. The King can take part in captures, to capture the King he must be surrounded from all four (or two) sides.
Ancient Games, Duodecim Scripta and Tabula
13/11/14
Today we played and discussed Duodecim Scripta, the game of twelve lines or twelve marks. At the start of the game the board is empty, the players then put their pieces onto the board by rolls of three dice and move them across the board and remove them. The goal of the game is to remove all of your fifteen pieces from the board first. Players can choose to move their pieces by the roll of each individual dice roll with three separate pieces moved or move one piece with the combined dice rolls. The players rely on luck rather than skill to progress faster in the game, although some skill in the movement of the pieces would be an advantage. This however is made pointless due to the stacking mechanic in the game, in which a player can stack their pieces up. This gives the pieces stacked power over any stacks with lesser pieces than itself, making it more power and being able to walk over the opponent with ease.
When I played the game I simply aloud my opponent to get a few pieces off the board and then stacked my entire army of pieces and took all of his pieces before he could reach the end, it made it very easy to win the game. Perhaps a limit on the amount of pieces a player is able to stack would make the game more balanced and enjoyable, although it was fun dominating the game play.
We also played Tabula which is referred to as an improved Duodecim Scripta. It came about after Duodecim Scripta started to become less popular among the Romans. Tabula is considered the precursor to the modern day backgammon. The players goal is to remove all of their pieces from the board first. Pieces are placed on the board and move along it in a certain way. The rules were reconstructed by Louis Becq Fourquieres from an epigram described by a student in Asia named Agathias of Mygrine. Overtime Tabula became popular through out Europe and has been enjoyed since the middle ages.
Today we played and discussed Duodecim Scripta, the game of twelve lines or twelve marks. At the start of the game the board is empty, the players then put their pieces onto the board by rolls of three dice and move them across the board and remove them. The goal of the game is to remove all of your fifteen pieces from the board first. Players can choose to move their pieces by the roll of each individual dice roll with three separate pieces moved or move one piece with the combined dice rolls. The players rely on luck rather than skill to progress faster in the game, although some skill in the movement of the pieces would be an advantage. This however is made pointless due to the stacking mechanic in the game, in which a player can stack their pieces up. This gives the pieces stacked power over any stacks with lesser pieces than itself, making it more power and being able to walk over the opponent with ease.
When I played the game I simply aloud my opponent to get a few pieces off the board and then stacked my entire army of pieces and took all of his pieces before he could reach the end, it made it very easy to win the game. Perhaps a limit on the amount of pieces a player is able to stack would make the game more balanced and enjoyable, although it was fun dominating the game play.
We also played Tabula which is referred to as an improved Duodecim Scripta. It came about after Duodecim Scripta started to become less popular among the Romans. Tabula is considered the precursor to the modern day backgammon. The players goal is to remove all of their pieces from the board first. Pieces are placed on the board and move along it in a certain way. The rules were reconstructed by Louis Becq Fourquieres from an epigram described by a student in Asia named Agathias of Mygrine. Overtime Tabula became popular through out Europe and has been enjoyed since the middle ages.
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Ancient Games, Royal Game of Ur
6/11/14
The Royal Game of Ur is played on a board made of twenty squares. The board is laid out in an unusual way, with four by three squares joined by a small bridge of two squares in the center and then two by three squares joined to it.
The rules of the game are not completely known, but there have been many reconstructed rule sets, based on a tablet dating from 177-76 BC. Like Senet, the Royal Game of Ur is a race game.
H, Murray suggests that pieces enter and leave the board on the same square. After a piece enters play it turns at the rosette travel along the middle of the game board, turns onto the smaller section over a rosette and travels around the edge to the opposite rosette, turning back down the middle of the board and making a return journey, bearing off at the start square.
R, Bell suggests that the pieces enter the board in the larger section of the board on a throw of five and bear off from the small section of the board. He also suggest that the rosettes have some significance in the game play and the middle of the board is the "Battle Ground" where pieces can be taken.
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Learn.ucs.ac.uk, (2015). [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_15269_1&content_id=_359811_1&mode=reset [Accessed 12 Mar. 2015].
British Museum. (). Royal Game of Ur. [Available online]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Game_of_Ur.
The Royal Game of Ur is played on a board made of twenty squares. The board is laid out in an unusual way, with four by three squares joined by a small bridge of two squares in the center and then two by three squares joined to it.
The rules of the game are not completely known, but there have been many reconstructed rule sets, based on a tablet dating from 177-76 BC. Like Senet, the Royal Game of Ur is a race game.
H, Murray suggests that pieces enter and leave the board on the same square. After a piece enters play it turns at the rosette travel along the middle of the game board, turns onto the smaller section over a rosette and travels around the edge to the opposite rosette, turning back down the middle of the board and making a return journey, bearing off at the start square.
R, Bell suggests that the pieces enter the board in the larger section of the board on a throw of five and bear off from the small section of the board. He also suggest that the rosettes have some significance in the game play and the middle of the board is the "Battle Ground" where pieces can be taken.
Learn.ucs.ac.uk, (2015). [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_15269_1&content_id=_359811_1&mode=reset [Accessed 12 Mar. 2015].
British Museum. (). Royal Game of Ur. [Available online]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Game_of_Ur.
Ancient Games, Senet
6/11/14
Senet is a race game dating back to ancient egyptian times, and it is thought that it may be
the ancestor of modern day backgammon (Soubeyrand (1995)). We know of this game today
due to discoveries made through the excavation of ancient tombs.
The original rules of Senet (The Game of Passing) are unknown. There are no records of the rules ever having been discovered, however many have attempted to reconstruct the rules using knowledge gathered through excavations in which images have been found on ancient tomb walls, as well as
through Senet related artifacts. Two of the most well known versions of the games rules have
been created by T,Kendall and RC, Bell.
In this version of Senet the rules known as Kendall's rules will be used, which are the work of
Timothy Kendall (1978). The rules state that the game is played on a rectangular board with
with three rows of ten squares called "houses", as shown in Figure 1.
Fig 1.
Senet is a race game dating back to ancient egyptian times, and it is thought that it may be
the ancestor of modern day backgammon (Soubeyrand (1995)). We know of this game today
due to discoveries made through the excavation of ancient tombs.
The original rules of Senet (The Game of Passing) are unknown. There are no records of the rules ever having been discovered, however many have attempted to reconstruct the rules using knowledge gathered through excavations in which images have been found on ancient tomb walls, as well as
through Senet related artifacts. Two of the most well known versions of the games rules have
been created by T,Kendall and RC, Bell.
In this version of Senet the rules known as Kendall's rules will be used, which are the work of
Timothy Kendall (1978). The rules state that the game is played on a rectangular board with
with three rows of ten squares called "houses", as shown in Figure 1.
Fig 1.
At the beginning of the game the seven counters (per player) are placed next to each other,
alternating along the first fourteen squares, as shown in Figure 1. The starting square is the
fifteenth square on the board, starting from top left and following a backward ‘S’ shape, as
shown in Figure 2.
Fig 2.
The players take turns moving the counters according to the throw of sticks, or one or two astragals.
After the astragals/sticks are thrown the counters are moved a number of squares equal to
the number of points ‘rolled’. Pieces move along the board in a backward ‘S’ shaped pattern. When a counter lands on a square already occupied by an opponents counter, they have to
exchange positions. When two counters from the same player are on squares next to each
other these counters serve as blockers. These stop the opposing player from passing and
from exchanging places with these counters.
There are five special squares that affect play,
Square Fifteen: The House of Rebirth. The starting square and return square if landing on square twenty seven.
Square Twenty Six: The House of Happiness. All counters must land on this square.
Square Twenty Seven: The House of Water. A square that can be landed on if a
perfect throw/roll is not achieved when counters from squares twenty eight to thirty are trying
to exit the board. If landing on this square, the player must move their counter back to square
fifteen (Rebirth square) .
Square Twenty Eight: The House of the Three Truths. A counter can only leave if a
three is rolled/thrown.
Square Twenty Nine: The House of Re-Atoum. A counter can only leave if a two is
rolled/thrown.
A perfect throw is needed in order for a counter to exit the board. The winner of the game is
the first player to move all of their pieces off the board.
(T,Kendall. (1978)).
Duggan, E. (2014). Ancient Board Games.
Kendall Timothy. (1978). Passing Through the Netherworld : The Meaning and Play of Senet,
an Ancient Egyptian Funerary Game, Belmont, The Kirk Game Company.
Legacy.mos.org, (2014). Museum of Science : Ancient Egypt Science & Technology : At
Home Activities. [online] Available at: http://legacy.mos.org/quest/activities.php [Accessed 18
Dec. 2014].
Murry, H. (1952). A history of boardgames other than chess. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Parlett, D. (1999). The Oxford history of board games. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
R.C.Bell. (1979). The Board Game Book, Marshall Cavendish Ltd, London.
Soubeyrand,C. (1995). The Game of Senet. Available:
http://www.gamecabinet.com/history/Senet.html. Last accessed 15 Dec 2014.
Games Britannia "Dicing With Destiny"
30/10/14
During today's session we watched and discussed the first part of a three part series, Games Britannia. A documentary on ancient and medieval games.
Historian Benjamin Wooley investigates the instinct to play games and discovers that it is as universal as language itself. He takes us from the 1st century to the Victorian era. He also looks at how religion is used in games through the ages. As the late Middle Ages came the spiritual element of games was being lost to the increase in amount of gambling in games.
This was the same era which Britain established the world's first commercial games industry, with classics like chess, ludo and snakes and ladders. Snakes and ladders, once represented the Hindu journey to enlightenment and was transformed into the popular game we all know today. Wooley see this as a perfect analogy for how the sacred energy of games is being drained away by commercialization.
During today's session we watched and discussed the first part of a three part series, Games Britannia. A documentary on ancient and medieval games.
Historian Benjamin Wooley investigates the instinct to play games and discovers that it is as universal as language itself. He takes us from the 1st century to the Victorian era. He also looks at how religion is used in games through the ages. As the late Middle Ages came the spiritual element of games was being lost to the increase in amount of gambling in games.
This was the same era which Britain established the world's first commercial games industry, with classics like chess, ludo and snakes and ladders. Snakes and ladders, once represented the Hindu journey to enlightenment and was transformed into the popular game we all know today. Wooley see this as a perfect analogy for how the sacred energy of games is being drained away by commercialization.
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