Board Games & Culture: Connecting the Dots
A list of books for those curious about games
Board games and culture. The two have been intertwined for centuries, likely millennia. My grandfather learned to play draughts (aka checkers, in the US) during World War II. So the following story really makes me catch my breath. Imagine the scene:
The atomic bomb go game is a celebrated game of Go that was in progress when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The venue of the game was in the suburbs of Hiroshima, about 5 kilometers from ground zero.
The game was about to enter its third and final day of play when the bomb dropped at 8:15 am. The players — Hashimoto Utaro, who was the Honinbo title holder, and Iwamoto Kaoru, who was the challenger — had replayed the game to the adjourned position but had not yet started to play on. The explosion caused disruption to the game, damage to the building, and some injuries to those attending the match. Play was resumed after the lunch break, and the game was played to a conclusion that evening. Hashimoto, holding White, won by five points.
Why compels us to play games? What compels us to play games in the middle of World War II? Perhaps games gives us a way of grasping at culture, community, a sense of purpose… But I want to dig into why and how they are intertwined with culture…
“I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art — and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.” — Marcel Duchamp
I’m doing some research into the theory of games and am making this evergreen list of books that I need to either read or re-read to better understand games and culture.
If you know of any books I’m missing please let me know!
@tomcritchlow / tjcritchlow@gmail.com
Herman Hesse won the Nobel Prize with this book in 1946 — a book about games, culture, academics and personal reflection. I read it many years ago and it’s never quite left me… How to balance the abstract fascination and theory of culture against the chaotic reality of lived experience? And of course, the fictional Glass Bead Game — a game with culture as the very fabric of play.
Sharing themes from the Glass Bead Game — tensions of game playing in it’s purest form against the physicality of reality this is still one of my favourite Culture novels. The description of game playing — literally for all the marbels — is gripping and wonderful.
This short, simply written hides it’s depth as a meditation on personal struggle and the games we play inside our own heads. Powerful stuff.
Recommended by @robinsloan this book looks like exactly the kind of thing I need to read to dig into the history & theory of gaming.
Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games
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www.amazon.com
The “European Game” is a modern phenomena that fascinates me. Blending Western combative gaming with Eastern board-building roots — what is it that makes these games appealing? This book is on my to-read list…
“The Art of Game Design presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game’s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology”
I don’t know much about this book but I sure want to get my hands on a copy.
Is this the right book to get if I’m interested in studying the design of chess pieces through the ages? Looks like it might be… But if you know of something better please let me know.
If you know of any books I’m missing please let me know! Thanks!
@tomcritchlow / tjcritchlow@gmail.com
