Games Old and New - Games Britannia, part 1

Watching a TV show in class was one of  the many things I was not expecting to do in this course. Well it was actually a digital copy, but a TV show is a TV show even if displayed with the help of a projector. On a white board. From a computer. In class.

I have to say  I really enjoyed watching "Games Britannia", learning about the history of games and realising that games are not just a mean of entertainment, but a way to get a unique perspective on human evolution. "Games Britannia" is a three part series about the history of popular games in Britain, dating from the Iron Age until the Information Age, presented by the historian Benjamin Woolley. In the first part of the show he follows the games evolutionary path, from a fundamental element with rich prophetic meaning to a widely addressed comercial good.

Humans have been known to play games, more or less complex, since they climbed down from the tree, this ability being seen as one of the attributes that differentiate humans from, lets say monkeys. Of course they play games too, but as far as I know, only humans play games using a set of rules more or less complicated, games which require struggle towards the achievement of a goal. And why is that? Because humans have that unique ability of getting bored. And so to devise a mean of entertainment, they came up with games, and knowing the human nature they kept improving them, iterating,  striving for a better "weapon" against boredom. I, for one, would dare say that the early humans were also the first games designers, and so adding game design to one of the oldest professions in the world.

The first games had, at a second glance, a more improtant role than we might expect. They were used as tools of divination by druids. Foretelling the will of the gods with a cast of the die, or the outcome of a battle was predicted by the outcome of a game, played by druids in the night before the battle, under the watchful eyes of their gods.Now, I don't know if they really worked and how much people would trust them, but given the strong inclination humans had for magic and mystery, and since it was before the occurrence of scepticism, and later on technology, I'd say it worked pretty well.

Also, games were used to explain political struggles or religious abstractions. Let's take for example "Alea Evangelii" - a game dating back to the early kings of Britannia, seen as a game of gospels. The game is started with 24 white pieces, 48 black pieces and 1 white king. The goal of the game is to get the king safely to one of the 4 corners of the board. This set-up could easily be associated with both religion ( the battle between black & white - good and evil, and the winning would result in the passage of the soul into heaven) and politics ( guarding the king and getting him safely across the battlefield, fighting the enemy's army).

Following the progress of games in history, in 1282, the king of Spain ordered the creation of "Libro des los Juegos" ( "The Book of Games"). It was a recollection of Arabic games know at that time, and it was the first book to introduce games like backgamon or chess. At that time it was widely believed that games were a refection of how ones life was supposed to be lived, believing in fate, or calculating every move. Just as games, life was supposed to either be ruled by chance, connecting it with a game like "Hazard"; or by skill, being connected with a game of strategy, like chess. Many got to the conclusion that life was a combination of both, and so the game that depicted this most clearly is considered to be "Backgammon", implying both the effect of chance and strategic thinking. "Backgammon", the perfect game.

Going on a bird's eye view over the medieval world, one can notice that games were played everywhere. Why is that? Because humans had a lot of waiting to do, for this pope, or that reverent, that speech or this execution. And they got bored. When humans get bored they played games. One of the most common game boards scratched around churches, dating from that time is the one for "Nine Men's Morris". Surprisingly,  knowing how strict the Church was at that time, they were pretty tolerant towards people playing games while  in church. That is due to the fact that life of a medieval man was extremely short and the accent was on enjoyment. And of course the Church approved! Even the priests used to play it.

But through time, games turned to another side of human nature, and that was greed. They were used to gain material goods in life (defying in a way Costikyan's definition of "Endogenous Meaning" : "...  one definition of endogenous is “caused by  factors inside the organism or system... A game’s structure creates its own meanings... Suppose you’re walking down the street, and someone gives you a $100 in Monopoly money. This means nothing to you; Monopoly money has no meaning in the real world. The guy who gave you the bill is probably some kind of lunatic. Yet when you’re playing Monopoly, Monopoly money has value;) (Costikyan, 2002, pg.22). And that's how gambling appeared. And the Church started to  disapprove the fact that humans were using fate and chance to determine  an outcome. Once used as tools of divination, to determine to will of gods, now dice was viewed by the Church as a tool of the devil. Games like Hazzard were highly played amongst the common folk in taverns, being a fast way of loosing one's hard earnings, or if a skilled player, making more money in one day, than one could ever dream. Amongst the upper classes, one of the most notorious gambling games was "Faro" a complete game of chance, bringing down famous members of the times aristocracy.

The middle classes, as the church, highly disregarded this way of life and tried by all means to ban gambling, being against their belief that any money you have must be earned through hard work. This battle culminated with a famous trial : John Thurtell - "The Elstree Murder". In 1823 the son of the Mayor of Norwich, John Thurtell, murdered a fellow gambler, William Weare, over a gambling debt of £300.  This was a shock, being the furthest anyone went because of gambling. He was arrested, trialled, proclaimed guilty and executed by hanging, and then had a wax statue made of him and added to Madame Tussauards. This event had the media explode. West End theatres they staged shows based on this case and the middle classes got enough fuel to push into writing the "The Gambling Law" - putting of the gambling wave that took over the country for about a century.

After this games changed direction, going for a design that was meant to teach manners and the good way in life for both children and adults. The best example for this is "The Royal Game of Goose", a famous Victorian parlour game, which is actually firstly mentioned by Francesco di Medici, who sent a copy to Philip the IInd, king of Spain and then rapidly spread in popularity amongst European royal courts. It consisted of a board with 63 spaces, representing the average human lifespan, and was packed with both penalties and rewards, depending on the players course of action. The goal of the game is that player has to live his life as best as he can, upholding the good ways of living.
Also this is the time when games become a commercial good. Adaptation of "The Royal Game of Goose" and the vast commercialisation of it, brought the game down from the royal palaces to a common Victorian household. This is also the time when games inspired by British colonies became popular in Britain.

 The British colonies were a vast source of inspiration for games, one of the most famous adaptations being "Snakes and Ladders". The game was inspired by the "Indian Game of Knowledge" or " Paramapada Sopaanam" ( The Ladder of Salvation); a game that had it's basic structure around a racing game, getting from point A to point B, but it had a more spiritual meaning, being an expression of both physical and spiritual Indian belief regarding life. It represented a journey towards  enlightenment, filled with obstacles and deceptions, making it more than a racing game, a game that emphasised the role of fate, or karma in ones life.
Another adaptation of an Indian game is "Ludo", but it didn't have the same success as "Snakes and Ladders" due to it's complications. 


This first part of "Games Britannia" ends with the explanation of the occurrence of "Chess" in the format we know it today. Even though the game is known since its mention in "The Book of Games" in 1282, it has only recently been given the definite formate we all know. Untill 1851, the game of "Chess" had always been played with different looking pieces or slightly different rules, even though the concepts and basic strategies were the same. It's widely believed that "Chess" is the highest developed board game of all time, due to both it's simplicity and it's difficulty, being easy to learn but hard to master. It has been used as a way of teaching strategy and determine battle tactics since medieval times, but never with a set of precise given rules or roles. 
In 1851, Paul Stautsdon, organises "The Great Exhibition" where he displayed the first game of "Chess" in the format we all know now, with a set of precisely given rules and standardised pieces. He was also the first one who organized the first "Chess" tournament, setting the set for the most amazing game of chess ever played.  


On the 21st of June, 1851, the game known as "The Immortal Game", played by Adolf Anderssen, the German Chess master of that time, and Lionel Kieseritzky, another 19th century Chess master, from Paris. The risks taken by the players and the incredible victory of Adolf Anderssen made it the most famous Chess game of all time, being called an achievement perhaps unparalleled in Chess history. 


                                "Attack! Always Attack!  -  Adolf Anderssen"




Bibliography:

Aleff, P., H The Royal Game of the Goose and of the Phaistos Labyrinth. Available from: <http://www.recoveredscience.com/gooseintro.htm> [Accessed 28 October 2011].

Althoen, S.C., King, L. & Schilling, K. (1993) How Long Is a Game of Snakes and Ladders? The Mathematical Gazette, 77, p.71.

Anon John Thurtell - “The Elstree Murder.” Available from: <http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/thurtell.html>.

Costikyan, G. (2002) I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Game. Proceedings of Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference, ed. Frans Mäyr,  Tampere: Tampere University Press.

Anon (2006) The Immortal Game: A History of Chess. Doubleday.

Topsfield, A. (1985) The Indian Game of Snakes and Ladders. Artibus Asiae, 46 (3), pp.203-226.