Figure 15:9, a-b Manuscript of the Qi Jing (Classic of Weiqi) Since my reading response was based on the importance of written manuals to the survival of games, I thought it would be fitting to describe the weiqi manual depicted in the Art of Contest. Dating to the middle of the sixth century, the weiqi manual is…
Rules
by cjakob •
The study of cultural pass-times can become particularly difficult when studying aspects that no longer survive. Even games that enjoyed a particularly long span of popularity are easily lost to the sands of time. Liubo, game of leaves, and boyi, are all once widely understood ancient games that today only serve to confuse modern scholars.…
Birth of the Chess Queen, Plate 3
by cjakob •
Queens teaching their children to play chess. Alfonso’s Book of Chess, Spain, 1283. The image depicts two queens instructing their youthful daughters to play chess, with a rather large red and yellow chess board separating the mother-daughter teams. While the artistry is not particularly fascinating it depicts a rather surprising cultural phenomenon that sprang up around chess,…
The Language of Chess
by cjakob •
One of Marilyn Yalom’s greatest arguments in the Birth of the Chess Queen, is the pan-European language that Chess came to embody. She speaks of a lonely princess, forced to marry a prince of another land, passing her loneliest hours with a chess board. The language of chess allowed her to communicate through the game;…
The Exceptions Proves the Rule
by cjakob •
The conclusion of Freitag’s article, “Playing the American Dream”, argues that while there were American published board games that challenged the notions of capitalism or American idealism their short lived popularity only furthers the overall argument of the paper that American game boards outline the emergence of true capitalism. These exceptions say more about a…
“Round and Round the Houses: the Game of Parchisi” Figure 3:11
by cjakob •
“Round and Round the Houses: the Game of Parchisi” Figure 3:11. A pair of parchisi pieces, described as “matronly”, are made of intricately decorated carved ivory and wood. The matrons skirts are hallowed to house small metal shavings that were made to rattle when the pieces were moved. Money, resources, and unique design techniques were…
Cross-Cultural Misconceptions
by cjakob •
Cross-cultural misconceptions were a key ingredient to imperialism. To the conquered these misconceptions led to a gross underestimating of those doing the conquering, as for the conquerors misconceptions led to an undervaluing of foreign cultures and thus leading to the need to trivialize and eradicate them. Caillois’s analysis of primitive society’s religious rituals as forms of “play”…
Reality and Games
by cjakob •
Are games really separate from reality, are they purely a fantasy? All four readings seem to suggest this, and even go so far as to make this distinction between reality and games essential to the definitions of “game” and “play”. “Real play comes to an end when its players report back to the real world” (The Art…
About Me
by cjakob •
Hello everyone! My name is Chantal, I am a super senior and pursuing a degree in History with a minor in psychology. My husband is the gamer of my relationship, and I avoid it like the plague. Having said this, strategy board games are a favorite past time. The more complicated the better! Zombicide is…