What can I say? With a full-time job (that I am extremely grateful for), publications to write, and other commitments, it has been darn near impossible to find time to blog. I barely find time to
Tweet relevant archaeology stories, but I am finding that venue at least a bit easier than the full micro-narratives one comes to expect from blogs. Life is all about prioritizing our time and well, the blog, I'm afraid, is coming up very short. Perhaps strict 'tweets' if the way I ought to proceed?
While I meditate on that, here was a
fun little story in Discovery News last week on ancient board games. Readers of this blog (when it was active, that is) will remember I have a keen interest in ancient games. One of these days I might even have some free time to explore the subject further. For example, one book that has been on my radar for quite some time now is
Ancient Board Games in Perspective. Papers from the 1990 Britsh Museum colloquium edited by Irving Finkel [2007]. Any other recommendations out there?
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| Ancient Egyptian game of Senet (from Discovery News) |
I only have three things to say about the Discover article. First, it focuses solely on board games as a past time of the elite, but of course we know every segment of the population in the ancient world was playing games of some sort like "roll the animal knuckle bones" (early form of dice) that didn't require a board. Second, while the article goes beyond the ancient world to give examples of board game development in the United States and elsewhere, it fails to mention the role of the Muslim world which, during the Medieval period in the Middle East, transmitted board games like chess invented in India or Afghanistan to Europe where it became a fixture of society.
Third, I found it mildly amusing (and my husband might too) to see that a "relevant" video embedded within the article discusses the question of "why are video games addictive?" This is a comparison of apples to oranges of course. Do you know anyone who is addicted to Monopoly or Scrabble the way people can get addicted to
Call of Duty or (recently)
Skyrim? Video games are an immersive environment the way board games can never be, though aspects of strategy, heightened anxiety, and pleasure in winning are present in both mediums.
Games are addictive. weather it's a chess game or board game or any video game. both create anxiety in you. first the video games they are like a worm in your mind to complete one stage then other and play again and again if you fail at some point. In chess you are learning and if you lose the game next time you wish to play again so that you play like the other person. its just human nature to behave like this. Hop every relgfio have game made on reading their Holy books like that like addiction to Quran or bible etc.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Quran. Do consider all those people, like me, who happily play board and video games now and again and not for hours on end everyday. We are not addicted by any means and enjoy the simple pleasure of games. This goes against what you would call human nature. If you would suggest that games distract us from more important things-like religion?-then I say there are plenty other truly addicting things that do that.
ReplyDeleteI have a 1976 version of Senet (pictured above). I loved playing it when I was a kid. I think its time to bring it down off the shelf!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Doug! Not based on an ancient game but I have Wadjet lurking in my closet that hasn't been played in years.
ReplyDeleteWow! That just landed on my amazon wish list. I know I should deplore a treasure hunting game - but perhaps its ok to indulge our inner antiquarian every once in a while?
DeleteHa ha I was thinking the same thing when I reread the description! Boardgame Geek gives it a pretty low score. Maybe that is why I haven't played in a loooong time...
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