Ancient Board Games - Duodecim Scripta and Tabula

    Continuing the discussion about Ancient Board Games, we came across two games that are considered to be Backgammon's ancestors: Duodecim Scripta and Tabula.
    
  

Duodecim Scripta or  Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum is the game of twelve marks. Buried beneath the thick layer of lava were found, where once the citizens of Pompeii were living, two murals, 1700 years after the catastrophe that destroyed the city in eighteenth century. The first mural depicted a scene where a men accused the other of cheating. The second one was showing the inn keeper shouting at the men who better go outside if they look for a fight. Historians say that the game of Duodecima Scripta was very popular among people back then. The Roman literature has a lot of information regard to this game. Even the most important people of that time were enjoying the game as Emperor Claudius was known as an ardent player of Duodecim Scripta. He wrote a book about the game and it is said that he was always carrying the board game with him.
     The game is considered to be an early version of the well-known game, Backgammon. As requirements you needed the special board game, fifteen counters each and three six-sided dice and the average game length was 30 minutes. A lot more than what a game of Backgammon might last.



 
  The second game we spoke about last time was Tabula and historians agreed that the game is a better version of Duodeim Scripta and became played among Romans after the popularity of Ludus started to decline (10 B.C.E -54 C.E.). Around fourth century, Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno was playing a game of Tabula and fifty years later the game was described in Asia by a student. The epigram helped Louis Becq de Fourquieres to write the precise rules of the game.
   Unlike Duodecim Scripta, Tabula had two rows instead of three as Backgammon has.


   
    To conclude, despite the fact that two thousand years stay between us and the civilization that invented and played Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum and Tabula we can, in modern days, enjoy their games.

Senet and The Royal Game of Ur

     Last lecture (07.11.2014) we spoke more about the ancient games. The purpose of the lectures is for us to get a better understanding of the history by playing some of the oldest games ever found. Even though archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest board games are four thousand years old, we got the opportunity to try out two, more recent games: Senet (the game of 30 squares) and The Royal Game of Ur (aka the game of 20 squares ).    

   

    Before I start writing about the gameplay experience of these two, I will add some board game classification.

    H. J. R. Murray, historian, classified board games in five groups:

    -Game of alignment and configuration (eg Noughts and Crosses, Nine Men’s Morrie etc.)

    -War games (eg chess)

    -Hunt games (eg fox and geese)

    -Race games (eg backgammon, pachisi etc.)

    -Mancala games (eg mancala)

    In 1960 Bell, R. C. organised games into six categories:

    -Race games (eg pachisi)

    -War games (eg chess)

    -Games of position (eg noughts and crosses)

    -Mancala games, which means “to move” (eg Kalah, Oware etc)

    -Dice games(eg hazard)

    -Domino games(eg ma-jong)

The Royal Game of Ur or the game of 20 squares date from around 2600BC. We played the game and the rules encourage players use strategy in order to win. The interaction between players is high which makes the game very competitive.

    

  

    Senet or the game of 30 squares is considered to be five thousand years old. Has some similarities with the Royal Game of Ur in terms of player interaction but the rules and the layout of the game are different.

       

    All in all, both board games are very valuable historical artifacts. The Royal Game of Ur and Senet can be considered parents of games that were discovered afterwards. The strategy and player interaction found in these two can be seen in various modern games.

Games Britannia - Part One: “Dicing with Destiny”

     Benjamin Woolley, a biographer and historian, starts a series of documentaries talking about the evolution of games in Britain, starting with the Iron Age and going through history until the Information Age, discovering and analysing how games influenced the society.

     The documentary starts with Benjamin Woolly saying how diverse were the reasons why people were playing games: for fun, for friendship, for intellectual purposes,for education and often for money. Even the locations were very different one from another: from churches to pubs and casinos. There was no doubt that people were feeling the need of playing games no matter the purpose or the place.

     In 1996 an archaeological team found a well preserved board game near Colchester that is believed to be two thousand years old and belonged to the Romans. The game was called Stanway Game. It had no dice of any kind in the box the game was found so it has to be a strategy game. 

     Even though we often say that is just a game, for the ancient society games were more than that. They were battle of chance and destiny and most of the time historical events can be depicted from this board games. Nowadays teenagers play video games to escape reality and to live different events that in real life were most of the time impossible.

     Later in the documentary, Benjamin Woolley finds a game in an early version of the Bible that can be consider the map of a religion. Might symbolise the fight between good and evil, a path a man should take to get to Heaven.  

     Games have different interpretation based on the mechanics they use. On one hand there were games that focus on luck as people's lives are most of the time influenced by destiny and on the other hand were games that focus on skill. Woolley says that life is a combination between these two.The perfect games should contain both of them. A game of such complexity might be backgammon.

     Game historian, Caroline Goodfellow says that game are a good way of having fun and waste time mostly because humans, unlike animals, tend to get bored. 

     Nine men's Morris is a very common game similar to "X's and O's" that can easily be found anywhere. In cathedrals you can find carved drawings of the game in stone.

      Later in history, dice were considered a tool of evil as no faith is worth being decided only by luck. Also, many considered that you can cheat with ease using dice.Hazard is a game where you bet money on the outcome of the rolled dice. Another game of pure chance is Faro. The difference is it uses decks of cards instead of dice. Usually the game is played in casinos for money. Because the prizes consist most of the time in money the stake was really high and addicted gambling players can become a real problem to society due to the fact that losing could cost them, literally, a fortune.

     The church started to see dice as a real menace to community's life, so people found an alternative: a spinner with number written on the margins. Very similar to dice but with different shape.

     Snakes and ladders is another well known game that is actually inspired by an Indian game named Gyan Chapoor. The game doesn't  rely on competition. It focuses on the spiritual path the human must take to reach the balance and happiness.

     Chess it is considered to be on of the most evolved game in terms of strategy that is easy to learn but very hard to master. The game is dated around 18th century in India. It was so well designed that lasted for two hundred years~ without any changes gameplay changes.

     This concludes the first part of the documentary Games Britannia: Dicing with Destiny.

     

     

     

Battleships Iteration

      Classic games are pretty straight-forward. Easy to learn, with simple rules and not many strategies to master, or probably not strategy at all. Just a bit of luck,  pens, paper and you are ready to go. This kind of games don't vanish in time because are easy to learn and carry around, being a good source of fun on-the-go.

     On Friday class, held on 17th October we had to split in pairs and play a game of battleships. As expected, everybody was already familiar with the game and everything went smoothly. At the end of the "playing phase" people were saying that they felt all kind of emotions: from the frustration of not hitting the opponent ship to the joy of guessing turn after the turn where the opposite player's ship is.

     As a task, we were told to add some new elements or rules to the game in order to change the gameplay and perhaps the feelings players get. I came up with the idea of adding three bombs on each player's map. If the opponent guesses the position of the bomb on the board he destroys everything around the triggered bomb. People came up with a lot of new interesting ideas such as stacking ships, collecting materials in order to repair any damages, random-shaped ships and so on.

     It was a nice exercise to see how the experience changes if we add or subtract elements from a game.

    

Games classification.

     Based on a French sociologist (Roger Cailloins) notions, games were slit into two groups: Paidia and Ludus.

     Paidia  refers to "play" for pleasure, games usually have no hard rules to follow. A good examples are SimCity series, Minecraft, GrandTheftAuto series and so on. Player could just take a break from the quest/ missions-side part of the game and enjoy free roaming.

     On the other hand, games classified as Ludus are constrained by rules and usually the player focuses on winning. 

     After the game is classified as either Ludus or Paidia, based on the gameplay, ther are: Agon that refers to competition, Alea which is the element of randomness or chance in a game, Ilinx refers to movement and Mimicry which is defined as simulation or role-play.

     I chose to classify Heroes of Newerth and Diablo III 

     Heroes of Newerth is a game that can easily be classified as Ludus. There is no free roaming and the games is definitely constrained by a set of rules. Two teams of five battle each other in order to destroy the opponent's base. Every player choose one hero to play with and they are ready to go. Every match lasts in average around 40-50 minutes and progression is not saved after the battle concludes. In terms of gameplay HeroesOfNewerth has elements of Agon because of the high competitive community. I might also say that the game asks for a certain amount of luck/chance because, unless you party up with some friends, you'll get random teammates who might not be as good at the game as you so are therefor the game has Alea elements. I don't think Mimicry can be found here because you're not playing an RPG so there is no role-play.

     Unlike HeroesOfNewerth, Diablo III doesn't focus on competition/Agon even though the game can be classified as Ludus because of the leaderboards and the community you're competing with indirectly. Diablo III also lets players the opportunity to explore the world of Sanctuary without being force to follow any rules (except the fact that you have a well-defined game area). Here we can easily see the element of role-play or Mimicry. The game main focus is on Alea or chance because Diablo III uses the RNG (random number generator). The map will always be randomly generated as well as the drop amount and quality of items.

     

Bibliography -updated-

1.   Author:
      Chandler, H. and Chandler, R.(2009) "Fundamentals of Game Development". London. Foundations of Game Development.

2.   Reader:
      Malone, T. and Lepper, M.(1987) "Making Learning Fun: A Taxonomy of Intrinsic Motivations of Learning" in Snow, R. E. and Farr, M. J Aptitude, Learning, and Instruction: Volume 3: Cognitive and Affective Process Analyses. v. 3. Hilsdale. NJ: Erlbaum. pp. 223-253.

3.   Journal:
     Adachi, P.J. and Willoughby, T. (2013) "More than just fun and games: The longitudinal relationships between strategic video games, self-reported problem solving skills, and academic grades,  Journal of Youth and Adolescence", 42, 1041-1051. doi:10.1007/s10964-013-9913-9

Like forgetting the door open...

 . ...And suddenly guests come in and I feel like I have to introduce myself. I might not be the best host out there but for sure I'll do my best, so whoever comes in can read a little about me. I have some answers at some question people might ask so they can get a glimpse of idea about who I am.

        

        

What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading, or what is the title of the last fiction book you read?

In the past two months I stopped reading fiction literature because I had to focus on the university application as well as getting some information about what I was about to do when the courses start. Beside programming languages and some articles about how to model in different computer graphics software, nothing else was to be read. Before that period of time, probably four months ago I finished reading “The Shinning” by Stephen King. I really enjoyed his book because his writing techniques appeal to my taste as he can make me feel anxious and most of the time uncomfortable. King tell his stories in such way you can feel a shiver down your spine when you read them. He is a master when it comes to horror novels.

                                             

What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading, or what is the title /topic of the last non-fiction book you read.

I had to read a lot of non-fiction books this year, especially in May because the final exams were right around the corner and I had to prepare a total of seventeen Romanian writers. Even though I was supposed to write about one author, I could not rely on luck so the best thing to do was to read one book for every writer on the list. I can honestly say that I enjoyed each and every book I chose. Different styles, different stories, each book had something new and interesting to show to the reader. Although was a pleasure to read them all, I can’t deny the fact that the one that I liked the most was “Morometii” by Marin Preda. The story is set between First and Second World War. The book focuses on Moromete family that struggles to stay unite in uncertain and unpredictable times, caught between two major historical disputes. I recommend the book to everyone that likes drama, history and humor.

                                                       

What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?

My last live performance I attended was in Bucharest, a couple months ago when I went to see a Romanian rock band playing live. They did an awesome job on stage. I was very pleased I could go and see them. One of the best experience I had. 

                                       

What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema/online or watched on DVD.

The last movie I watched on DVD was “The Number 23” which is a psychological thriller film written by Fernley Phillips,  starring Jim Carrey. The film is really intense, has a captivating story and an unexpected ending. Go watch it if you have't already!

                     

                                                                                            

How often do you read a newspaper? (Which one? Online or physical?)

I don’t read newspaper as most of the news I get to know about are from television, social media or friends. I believe newspapers are not a good way of staying updated to social life nowadays mostly because there are better and faster ways of getting information.

                                                     

Which art gallery/museum/ exhibition did you last visit?

I remember that, before the school ended, I visited an art gallery in Bucharest that had exposed all kind of contemporary paintings that, to be honest, were very hard to comprehend. Most of them were very minimalistic and had almost no “art elements”. Probably that’s why I focus on programming and not on designing. All in all, it was a nice and quite unique experience.    

                                                       

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?

Now that I am away from home and I have to take care of everything, I would  say I probably spend about ten hours a week playing video games but before coming to university I had a lot more. Playing games on computer was the most common way of entertainment. After a long day at school ( most of the time I had about six/seven courses a day), video games were the best way of relaxing. I believe this was for the best because I’ve learned a lot from playing video games, to be honest, such as history, geography, time and money management, I developed good reflexes and good skills in communication. Definitely it was not a wasted time.

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

To be honest, the only games I played other than video games were chess and backgammon. My father is very good at chess and he usually had time for one or two skirmishes. Other than that, I didn’t play board games of any kind except “Catan”, “Monopoly” and some card games from time to time, so on average I probably spend less than an hour a week .