Games Britannia - Part 1: Dicing With Destiny

Part 1 of Games Britannia takes us back to the roots of gaming with some exploration into modern board games and their history. To understand modern board games the show first explores ancient board games.

The influences of games can always be derived from religion, wars or just generally life. Even in ancient times games were a way people could explore a world in a very similar fashion to how computer games today allow us to escape and do things we usually can't do.

The Stanway Game

The Stanway Game is the earliest complete set of a game ever found. It was excavated from a quarry in the town of Colchester. Nobody knows the games ruleset but the pieces of the board were frozen in place.

The Stanway Games discovery suggests that Ancient Britains were further advanced than thought previously. The game was thought to be a game of pure strategy as no dice were with the set, similar to chess although metal rods were found along the game which led to the belief of the game being used for divining purposes.

Alea Evangeli

This game feels similar to Counter Strike as each player would have their own role. The aim of one of the players would be to escort the king to the corner where the other player would need to prevent them. The game was played on a grid using the crossed line as spaces rather than squares which is also uncommon in todays board games.

Backgammon

Backgammon is a popular game today which has definitely lasted the test of time as it's described as having a perfect balance between skill and chance.

Nine Men's Morris

Similar to Naughts and Crosses as it's appeared throughout history having been known to be etched into buildings and rocks. Nine Men's Morris is a "medieval Game Boy" in that it's something that people have seemed to do to pass time when bored.

Hazard

Frowned upon massively by the church as dive were thought to be products of the devil, Hazard is a dice game of pure chance in which the player must bet more and more money each round.  It was an easy way to lose a lot of money for the purpose of constantly having to raise your bets.

Faro

Faro was another pure chance based gambling game where players would bet on cards, described as being simpler to play than roulette.

Game of the Goose

Variations of this game kick-started board game commercialization. Instead of dice which were considered 'evil' the game used a spinner which basically does the same thing. The purpose of this game was to educate players on life morals.

Gyan Chaupar

The board design for Gyan Chaupar, the HIndi game of knowledge and enlightenment was themed. Each square on the board related to something in life such as rebirth, kings and ultimate bliss. Similar to Snakes and Ladders which was actually based off this game with the original board for Snakes and Ladders being circular, there is no competition or fun in the game. Gyan Chaupar becomes very tedious very quickly when trying to get exact rolls to end the game.

Chess

Chess is the pinnacle of board games in my opinion as it gives players so many options which leads to very skill based strategy gameplay. The game itself isn't hard to play but very difficult to play well. "Chess is the highest evolved example of a board game produced by the human race".

The game originates from 8th Century India and became popular around Europe by the 13th Century. Chess is a war game used possibly to teach and learn battle tactics.