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
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Page 118
... forces are reduced to three he embarks upon Phase 3. This entitles him at each turn to move any one of them to any vacant point on the board , whether or not connected to its current position . If both players are reduced to three , the ...
... forces are reduced to three he embarks upon Phase 3. This entitles him at each turn to move any one of them to any vacant point on the board , whether or not connected to its current position . If both players are reduced to three , the ...
Page 185
... force is to blockade the powerful singleton so that it cannot move , while that of the singleton is to capture so many of the weaker forces that not enough remain to hem it in . In some games the larger force can win by occupying an ...
... force is to blockade the powerful singleton so that it cannot move , while that of the singleton is to capture so many of the weaker forces that not enough remain to hem it in . In some games the larger force can win by occupying an ...
Page 362
... forces at a time as in board war games . As a multi - player game , its chief distinction from board war games is that players spend most of their real time engaged in making and breaking alliances with one another . Anything relevant ...
... forces at a time as in board war games . As a multi - player game , its chief distinction from board war games is that players spend most of their real time engaged in making and breaking alliances with one another . Anything relevant ...
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