Today we learnt about a number of new games, each of these games had the same basic structure and a similar rule set however they where each a different name, there was Tablut a game played on a 9x9 board using 8 white pieces and 16 black pieces, this had been seen in Lapland by a botanist named Linnaeus, there was the Welsh variation known as Tawl Bwrdd (translates to throw board) which was played on a larger board of 11x11 and was played with 12 white pieces and 24 black pieces, and then there was the Anglo Saxon Alea Evangelii or the game of the gospels which I have mentioned in a previous blog, this variation was played on a much larger 18x18 board and using 24 white pieces and 48 black pieces.
The overall objective of these games are the same, the players using the white pieces have a king piece, they must keep this piece protected at all times and have to move him to either a corner space on the board or to any of the edges of the board (this depends on which rule set you are playing), whereas if you are playing with the black pieces your objective is to capture the white king and to stop him from reaching the corners (or edge). It is possible to capture your opponents pieces to do this you need to have two of your pieces on either side of the opponent that you are trying to capture, for the blacks to capture the whites king you need to have the king blocked in with four of your pieces on either side of the king.
I will look through some of the notes that I have from this session and read through anything that may be able to give me anymore information about the game of Tablut and its other variations as this is one of the games that has grabbed my interest as something that I would like to look at further.
Thursday 20 November 2014
Wednesday 12 November 2014
Games Britannia: Dicing With Destiny or How I Learned to Appreciate Ancient Games.
We watched the first episode of a BBC 4 show called Games Britannia this episode was called Dicing with Destiny and was about the history of games from games played with there boards carved into the stone of church chairs, to the games that we play today.
We find that may of the ancient games weren't just played for fun but that they are fundamental, some games offering some sort of prophetic meaning, whether they are used not only through life but through death, or if they are used to help kings determine whether they would be successful if they where to go into battle.
However games started to lose these prophetic and religious meanings and instead started to be more and more associated with gambling. By the time of the Victorians there where a number of dice and card games which resulted in a moral backlash associating these games with loss and hardship, games where being used as moral teaching materials, with a number of the aspects of gambling being associated with evil, people started to refer to dice as instruments of the Devil meaning most children where not allowed to play any games that may of used dice. During these times most games that involved gambling where often a 50/50 chance to win, unlike Todays gambling where most machines are rigged to pay out only at certain points. One of the most notable gamblers was a noted Whig statesman Charles James Fox, who was the second son of Lord Holland, one of the last acts of Lord Holland was to settle a massive £140,000 of his son's debt, but Fox continued to win and lose huge amounts of money in single sittings. It is said that he would gamble for days only taking breaks to fulfil his political obligations.
It is around this time that Britain established one of the first gaming industries, with the mass production of games, like Snakes and Ladders, although this is also an iteration of an ancient Hindu game of knowledge know as Gyan Chauper. But this beautiful game that was designed to show the journey to enlightenment was now tainted by commercialisation so that the game could be fun and suitable for the market of Today the journey that it once represented was removed and the religious meaning was completely forgotten.
As a game designer I feel that it is important to remember the ancient games as without them we wouldn't have the games that we have today, not only that but I feel we need to keep the original meanings of these ancient games alive and not only enjoy the modern versions for the fun, but remember the ancient versions of these games so that we can feel what the people who would play these games felt and be able to learn from that experience.
One of the games that I found truly interesting was the game Alea Evangelii which played in a simplified way is a game of strategy and movement as you have to try to escort your king piece to any of the corners of the board being outnumbered by your opponent you have to really think and take a strategic approach to the game. I would like to look more into the game Alea Evangelii and maybe even try to play the game at it's simplified state.
We find that may of the ancient games weren't just played for fun but that they are fundamental, some games offering some sort of prophetic meaning, whether they are used not only through life but through death, or if they are used to help kings determine whether they would be successful if they where to go into battle.
However games started to lose these prophetic and religious meanings and instead started to be more and more associated with gambling. By the time of the Victorians there where a number of dice and card games which resulted in a moral backlash associating these games with loss and hardship, games where being used as moral teaching materials, with a number of the aspects of gambling being associated with evil, people started to refer to dice as instruments of the Devil meaning most children where not allowed to play any games that may of used dice. During these times most games that involved gambling where often a 50/50 chance to win, unlike Todays gambling where most machines are rigged to pay out only at certain points. One of the most notable gamblers was a noted Whig statesman Charles James Fox, who was the second son of Lord Holland, one of the last acts of Lord Holland was to settle a massive £140,000 of his son's debt, but Fox continued to win and lose huge amounts of money in single sittings. It is said that he would gamble for days only taking breaks to fulfil his political obligations.
It is around this time that Britain established one of the first gaming industries, with the mass production of games, like Snakes and Ladders, although this is also an iteration of an ancient Hindu game of knowledge know as Gyan Chauper. But this beautiful game that was designed to show the journey to enlightenment was now tainted by commercialisation so that the game could be fun and suitable for the market of Today the journey that it once represented was removed and the religious meaning was completely forgotten.
As a game designer I feel that it is important to remember the ancient games as without them we wouldn't have the games that we have today, not only that but I feel we need to keep the original meanings of these ancient games alive and not only enjoy the modern versions for the fun, but remember the ancient versions of these games so that we can feel what the people who would play these games felt and be able to learn from that experience.
One of the games that I found truly interesting was the game Alea Evangelii which played in a simplified way is a game of strategy and movement as you have to try to escort your king piece to any of the corners of the board being outnumbered by your opponent you have to really think and take a strategic approach to the game. I would like to look more into the game Alea Evangelii and maybe even try to play the game at it's simplified state.
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