The Oxford History of Board GamesFor thousands of years, people have been planning attacks, captures, chases, and conquests - on a variety of different boards designed for an astonishing diversity of games. Today the compelling mix of strategy, skill, and chance is as strong as ever; new board games are invented almost daily,while the perennial favourites continue to attract new devotees and reveal new possibilities.The Oxford History of Board Games investigates the principles of board games throughout the ages and across the world, exploring the fascinating similarities and differences that give each its unique appeal, and drawing out the significance of game-playing as a central part of human experience - asvital to a culture as its music, dance, and tales. Beautifully illustrated and with diagrams to show the finer points of the games, this is a fascinating and accessible guide to a richly rewarding subject.In his trade-mark accessible, entertaining style, David Parlett looks at the different families of games: games based on configuration or connection, races or chases, wars or hunts, capture or blockade. He focuses mainly on traditional games, the folk entertainments that have grown up organicallythrough the centuries, and which exhibit endless local variations, although he discusses also the commercial products that have tried, with varying degrees of success, to match their astonishing popularity.This is not primarily a how-to book, although the rules and strategies of certain games are discussed in detail, neither does it offer sure-fire tips for success, although with a fuller understanding of a game the reader will undoubtedly become a better-informed, if not better, player. Rather, itis an affectionate and authoritative survey of one of the most familiar parts of our cultural history, which has until now been inexplicably neglected. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 49
Page 42
... Chinese themselves regarded the game as foreign . Assuming the names of the throws listed in the table above to be numerals , they are certainly neither Korean nor Chinese , but those for one , two and three are reminis- cent of Finnish ...
... Chinese themselves regarded the game as foreign . Assuming the names of the throws listed in the table above to be numerals , they are certainly neither Korean nor Chinese , but those for one , two and three are reminis- cent of Finnish ...
Page 282
... Chinese priority were based on misunderstandings as to the age of key Chinese references , and two cen- turies ' worth of credit has subsequently been added to the Indian side of the ledger . Also favouring India is the fact that China ...
... Chinese priority were based on misunderstandings as to the age of key Chinese references , and two cen- turies ' worth of credit has subsequently been added to the Indian side of the ledger . Also favouring India is the fact that China ...
Page 288
... ( Chinese Chess ) is probably the most widely played of all national Chess varieties , its estimated two million players including those of China itself , parts of Indo - China and the Malayan archipelago , and the world - wide Chinese ...
... ( Chinese Chess ) is probably the most widely played of all national Chess varieties , its estimated two million players including those of China itself , parts of Indo - China and the Malayan archipelago , and the world - wide Chinese ...
Common terms and phrases
adjacent Alquerque Backgammon beans Bell binary lots Black Board and Table Board Games called captured pieces cells centre century Chaturanga Chaupar Chess Variants chessboard Chinese classic Cluedo colour corner Culin David Parlett derived described diagonal dice doubleton Draughts enemy piece entered equivalent European forwards four Fox & Geese French game played Games & Puzzles grid hippogonal History of Board Hnefatafl hole Indian initial invented jump king Latrunculi Lhôte line of three linear Mancala marked Merels modern movement moves a piece Murray Nine Men's Morris number of pieces occupied opponent opponent's original orthogonally Pachisi Patolli pawn Pentominoes piece moves placement player starts position possible Pritchard promotion proprietary games queen race games Reversi Rithmomachy rook rules score Shatranj side singleton Snakes & Ladders Solitaire space stones Table Games Tafl track traditional vacant point vacant square war games White winner word