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 38
... similar but more elaborate game was played on a squared - up loop with a single branch ( Fig . 3.3 ) . Zohn Ahl . ' Ahl ' or ' Awl ' designates a range of similar games formerly played throughout North America and Mexico , sometimes as ...
... similar but more elaborate game was played on a squared - up loop with a single branch ( Fig . 3.3 ) . Zohn Ahl . ' Ahl ' or ' Awl ' designates a range of similar games formerly played throughout North America and Mexico , sometimes as ...
Page 159
... similar pieces on similar boards , but the mental processes involved are distinctive enough to justify classifying them under an equally distinctive heading . They are sometimes generically referred to as ' Nim ' . This comes from an ...
... similar pieces on similar boards , but the mental processes involved are distinctive enough to justify classifying them under an equally distinctive heading . They are sometimes generically referred to as ' Nim ' . This comes from an ...
Page 246
... similar but played on a 25 - point board with triangular extensions . Karat is a Tuareg game typically played on a grid of 8 × 8 holes by women , or 6 × 7 by men . ' 9 10 12 8 One of the largest and most refined is the Saharan and ...
... similar but played on a 25 - point board with triangular extensions . Karat is a Tuareg game typically played on a grid of 8 × 8 holes by women , or 6 × 7 by men . ' 9 10 12 8 One of the largest and most refined is the Saharan and ...
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
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Oxford History of Board Games |
| Author | David Parlett |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1999 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 10 Oct 2008 |
| ISBN | 0192129988, 9780192129987 |
| Length | 386 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |