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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Iterating Battleships

17/10/14

In today's class with Rob Kurta we got into pairs and played battleships. The aim of the task was to focus on :

What kind of emotional experience am I getting from this game?

Where in the game is that experience coming from?

Observing the games we played I noticed that I got a sense of accomplishment and happiness when I got a hit. I felt frustrated when I missed his ships on my turn. I was worried when it was the other players turn before he gave his coordinates and before I gave my coordinates to fire on his ships I felt worried because of the uncertainty.

Iteration 

Using the information gathered we were set the task of iterating the game. We came up with two ideas and each played out the games to see if they worked. First was there was no limit to where the ships were placed as originally they have to be a space apart on the board. This made the game harder and more flexible, giving the players more options where to position their ships. My opponent and I felt that it made the game funnier and more enjoyable.

The second iteration was that the ships could go diagonally across the board, where as originally they could only go in straight lines. This made the game a lot harder, added more anticipation and suspense when picking where to fire. We both enjoyed the game and agreed this was the better of the two iterations and made the game even better than before. 

Defining Videogames

16/10/14

We had a lecture today on the Definition of Games. We spoke about ways in which we can categorize games.
We explored the distinction between the words "game" and "play" by looking at Salen,K., and Zimmerman,E. (2004) Rules of Play: Games Design Fundamentals. London. MIT Press.
They discovered that games are systems in which players compete with defined rules in place to have a specific outcome or goal. Play however does not have rules usually, for example when children "play" they have no set rules in which they are playing.

We then looked at Newman, J., (2003) Vidoegames. London: Routledge. to fine tune our understanding. He often referred to Caillos, R., who classified games into two terms:

Paida - When a player plays a game for pleasure.
Ludus - This is defined by rules in which a specific outcome or goal is clear.

 Newman went on to further categorize games using Caillos work adapted from Huizinga.
These categories are:

Agon (Competition) - Sports eg. Racing, Wrestling, Athletics.
Alea (Chance) - Betting, Roulette.
Mimicry (Simulation) - Carnival, Theater, Cinema.
Ilinx (Vertigo) - Mountain climbing, Skiing.

We then discussed in which categories games we play fit into. It became apparent that games can fit into multiple categories. Using what we have learned I used this information to categorize games I play.

ArcheAge

The first game I chose to categorize was ArcheAge. This game is a MMORPG sandbox game, meaning you can literally do pretty much anything you want. I would therefore categorize this game as Paidia. Although there are aspects of Ludus as well because there are rules to limit what you do and rewards for achieving small goals (ie. Killing a dungeon boss). Being a RPG it has a strong categorization in Mimicry because of the role-play and make-believe elements. It has Ilinx styling within the game as your able to climb massive mountains and use a glider to fly across the world. You can really feel how large the world is and that you are just a small cog in the extensive Trion landscape.

 

Forza Motorsport 4

Another game that I spent many hours playing is Forza Motorsport 4. This is a classic racing game but with a twist of being able to modify the vehicles you have in your garage. This is clearly categorized as Ludus because of the clear rules and outcome of having to win. We can also put this in the Agon category because of it being competitive. There are aspects of Paidia though through the reward scheme, in which players get cars in there garage for race placing and completing circuits/race series. There is Mimicry in this game because of it being a simulation.