Customer Reviews

Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book, although I recommend it more for reference than for reading cover-to-cover. It's been around since 1960 and is certainly a classic in the genre. Among the games it covers are games that will be familiar to most players: Checkers, Chess, Pachisi (aka Parcheesi), Backgammon, and Cribbage. It also covers some that will be familiar to avid gamers: Mancala, Go, Shogi, Nine Men's Morris, Alquerque. Then there is the plethora of games and versions of games that most people have never heard of, either because they are only played in very specific areas of the world, or because they haven't been played in hundreds of years.

All in all, if you can afford the relatively cheap price tag, this game will make a nice addition to your bookshelf. It's not necessarily essential, but it does make for a great reference work.

This is an excellent book if your into playing board games ( the Chess/checkers/Backgammon kind rather than the Monopoly/Careers kind). This book has 15o+ traditional board games from around the world, some ancient and many very fun to play! If your into other cultures or just want something different to play, its a good book. A number of ones not in standard American repertoire, in this book: Go, an unusual oriental game said to be on par with Chess(still unbeaten by computers) Chinese, Japanese, Burmese and Arab versions of Chess, and the ancient ancestor of them all. Hnefa-tafl, a clever Viking game Latrunculi, the Roman's game of intellect Mancala and co., a very weird and very fun group of games, called "the National Game of Africa" OK, I'm outta time here, ya get the idea ;)

I've constantly been searching for a concise book covering a wide range of the games of the world. This book comes fairly close to doing that in a good, inobtuse manner. The main flaw of this book is Bell's inconsistant style; sometimes he will give strategy and indepth concepts of a game, other times he gives a very short blurb about a game that can be quite unsatisfying. Granted some games have a foggy history, but it seems he just failed to compile much information on some of the games. It is mostly a compilation of information other writers had written, with some (sometimes arbitrary) commentary from Bell.

All in all, it's good enough to buy if you're looking for a light collection of games from around the world.

Board (or table) games have been around for at least 5,000 years and are still going strong. Before the age of the computer they were a primary source of entertainment as far as games go. As an aside, the very first "thing" my wife and I purchase as a couple after we were married was a board game...Monopoly in our case. If I remember right, we paid a little over three dollars for it and it just about broke us.

But this work is not about such games. The author has done a great amount of research and approached his subject in a very scholarly manner. This is as much a history book as it is a work about its subject, games. This study was first published in 1960 in two volumes. The book being reviewed here is both volumes bound into one edition and was first published in that form in 1979.

This work has many strengths and a few weaknesses; depending upon your particular needs and depending upon your particular passion for the subject. I must tell you that for most, this is not a book that you would probably want to read cover to cover as you would a novel. No, this is more of a reference book than anything else. It is, in my opinion, still one of the best books available on the subject, especially if it is used as an introduction or "seed book" to encourage those who have an interest in such matters to seek out and explore other works. This is not a light read by any means and it most certainly is not a book that will teach the reader the absolute rules or subtle nuances of each game it covers. But let me state again, this is not a light weight "fun" book to read. The author is quite serious about his subject and treats it as such. I dare say that if you have no interest in the subject, your eyes will roll to the back of your head as you read this work. I have an interest and loved ever word written here.

This work is broken down into six overall and basic sections which include:

Race Games
War Games
Positional Games
Mancala Games
Dice Games
Domino Games

Over 180 games are investigated and discussed by the author, R.C. Bell. These games range from ancient times and cover many cultures and civilizations from ancient Egypt, Meso-America, the Orient, India, Persia, Rome, Africia and Victorian England along with many other area such as Iceland, Europe, and indeed, going all the way back to archeological evidence from prehistoric times.

One of the main strengths of the book is that it is not, unlike many others in this genre, purely Eurocentric. The author range is wide and we get a very good taste of the subject geographically, culturally and historically. This is a good thing. The work has been greatly enhanced with over 300 illustrations which consist of drawings, diagrams and photographs.

This work has been criticized, and there is some justification in this, as to the author's inconsistencies in reference to the depth he investigates each game. Some games are given minute attention as to details and rules, while others have been given little more than a nod; or so it would seem. I personally feel that this is not all the author's fault. The origins of many of these games have been lost in the mist of time and a certainly amount of speculation has had to be used; something the author is quick to point out.

For the advanced student of this subject, much of what the author has written and recorded has been published in other works and the author has freely used these works in his text (He has, it will be noted, given full credit and has been meticulous in noting is source documents). For someone like me, who has a great interest in the subject (more from a historical angle than anything else) and is not a fanatic obsessed with the subject (I have a couple of friend who fall into this category), then this work is a wealth of information. I learned, and am learning, all kinds of nice little trivial facts...something I love.

Those interested in toys and toy making, historians and sociologists and indeed, game players, will find this work not only useful, but actually rather fascinating. Due to the relatively low cost of this work it is one that needs to be in your collection, or at least in the collection at your local library.

I am giving this four stars rather than five for the simple fact that it could have been better.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I have been looking for such a resource for use in my Latin classroom. Bell includes his references to primary sources for the ancient games and that is highly useful.