"From cardboard to keyboard". Proceedings of Board Games Studies Colloquium XVII, Eddie Duggan & David W. J. Gill (Eds.) Associaçao Ludus, Lisbon, 2016
Simple race games, played with dice and without choice of move,
are known from antiquity. In the ... more Simple race games, played with dice and without choice of move,
are known from antiquity. In the late sixteenth century, specific examples
of this class of game emerged from Italy and, assisted by the
medium of printing, spread rapidly into other countries of Europe. Pre-eminent among these was the Game of the Goose, which was to spawn
thousands of variants over the succeeding centuries to the present day,
including educational, polemical and promotional versions mirroring
many aspects of human life.
The paper deals with the early history of these games, concentrating on their philosophical background, numerology and symbolism.
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Papers by Adrian Seville
The Game of the Owl is a simple gambling game in which the players pay to or take stakes from a pool according to the throw of dice. The paper analyses versions of this game into five types, based on their iconography and detailed rules. Although the earliest surviving example is Italian, dating from the late 16th century, the analysis suggests an earlier origin, in Germany. The iconographic links with the Till Eulenspiegel legends are explored.
later examples of the game, which are found up to the present day, the image often shows evidence of developing trends in the design of real gardens. A different kind of garden appears as the goal of a variant game, the Game of Cupid. Here, the goal is the Garden of Cupid, represented as a hortus conclusus, implying loss of virginity when it is penetrated. The track is laid out on the body of a crowned serpent, which represents habitual sin. The garden symbolism is discussed in relation to belief systems in the fifteenth century, which shaped the formation of these games.
double dice on a spiral track for stakes and penalties paid into a winner-take-all pool. Within this simple format, there are literally thousands of
variations of theme, iconography etc. In the great majority of these games, the player is not required to do anything except throw the dice, move the token according to the rules, and pay to the pool as instructed.
This contrasts with certain other race games, in which the player is expected to speak, e.g. to answer a question correctly, or make a formula response or to undertake some action e.g. by a prescribed forfeit observed by the playing company. In these ways, the game becomes more sociable, in the sense that there is a crossover into what are often called jeux de société or party games.
The paper, illustrated by games across the centuries and across Europe,
explores this interface. It also covers Goose-type games that,
though not sociable in the above sense, do nevertheless deal with aspects of social interaction, such as love, marriage, the art of conversation, and the development of civilized behavior.
are known from antiquity. In the late sixteenth century, specific examples
of this class of game emerged from Italy and, assisted by the
medium of printing, spread rapidly into other countries of Europe. Pre-eminent among these was the Game of the Goose, which was to spawn
thousands of variants over the succeeding centuries to the present day,
including educational, polemical and promotional versions mirroring
many aspects of human life.
The paper deals with the early history of these games, concentrating on their philosophical background, numerology and symbolism.
Books by Adrian Seville