Customer Reviews

Secret Games of the Gods: Ancient Ritual Systems in Board Games

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Secret Games of the Gods : Ancient Ritual Systems in Board Gamesby Nigel Pennick Two types of people will be most interested in this book. People who are interested in the history of European divination will be very pleased with the first two thirds of Secret Games of the Gods which goes into great detail about different systems for predicting the future. The last third of the book in an overview of games played by different cultures around the world and their connection to spiritual practices of these cultures. This is the area of interest that brought me to this book. In the area of the history of game playing, Secret Games of the Gods is an excellent resource, comparing similar games from different cultures and from differing periods of time. Some of the games mentioned have (to my knowledge) not been described in any other text on this subject. Mr. Pennick gives detailed accounts of the history and mythology behind the different games outlined in his book. He also discusses the rules for the games and gives illustrations of the boards and pieces used. I have used his descriptions to reconstruct several of the games in the book and found them to be stimulating and entertaining. From reading the book is clear that Mr. Pennick passionately believes in the spiritual, metaphysical and extra-perceptional aspect of game playing and how this relates to our connections to "powers higher then our selves." Sometime this passion can be off putting to those of us who are less inclined to that sort of thing. But this does not distract from the completeness of his work which should be included in any library on game playing.

This book is a very interesting tour of the world of divination, but focuses little on its purported topic (ritual systems in board games). Pennick takes 160 pages to discuss the history of divination in European Paganism (and, to some extent, Vedic and Chinese divination) before actually launching into an examination of those rituals' infusion into board games. Still, it is very interesting and illuminates the origins behind a great deal of the fixtures our culture takes for granted. I recommend this book -- especially if you can find it priced as I did, on the bargain shelf at B*rnes & N*ble. :-)

Or did he really?

This is an excellent book on both divination and its link to various board games, some of them pretty obscure to the average man or woman. Nigel Pennick includes much material to tie the two fields together; and the book is profusely illustrated.

Who hasn't noticed or experienced the way that board games can become almost larger than life, or take on a life of their own, at least in the psyche of the game player? This applies to simple gambling games like roulette, craps, and blackjack (it's played on a board, eh?), as well as to games of strategy and conquest like Go, Chess, or even Risk, not to mention those newer Euro(tm) games too numerous to mention.

Who hasn't been carried away into a near meditative state by the clink of wooden or plastic game tokens, counters, tiles, and markers, as they carry out the small-but-intimate rituals that we call "games?"

And who hasn't wondered, maybe only in a passing daydream, if there wasn't something more to it all than mere entertainment or gambling?

After all, hundreds (probably thousands) of different divination methods have been used by various cultures and peoples across the ages, all based upon examining seemingly random events or occurrences and attempting to create order out of the chaos by comparing the "chaos" against the gage or rule of some orderly divination system. What better opportunity for divination then, than a board game, which contains a certain amount of randomness (chaos), offset against whatever measure of intuition, observation, and inspiration the game player is able to muster, enhanced by his or her developed game skills!

It's important to remember that divination is not an attempt to predict the future, but rather to examine the events that are likely to become important in the future, based upon possible and probably influences, both symbolic and concrete. If this can be aided by the subconscious, by intuition, or by "unseen forces," so much the better!

Nigel Pennick has assembled much information about this subject into one place, namely, between the covers of his book.

There are plenty of people out there who have been waiting for just such a book all their lives. I was one; as soon as I came across a reference to it, I purchased the book used from Amazon.

I was initially quite disappointed that after supplying so much history, theory, opinion, and other good food for thought, Mr. Pennick hadn't really written the truly magic book seemingly promised by the title. He doesn't do much to tell us HOW to put the information all together and use it; and when the initial excitement and novelty wears off, you might find that you are left facing a very large question mark, hovering over a very deep hole.

However, I don't think he can be faulted, because the job of putting it all together and using it is up to you. The author has merely furnished knowledge, suggestion, and a rather complete set of tools (depending upon what you want to build, you may not use them all). You must take it from there (yeah, I know; work sucks :-) If you immerse yourself in the subject matter and ponder what seems most interesting to you, observing the diagrams and drawings and acquiring or making some of the game boards the author covers, you may be pleasantly surprised.

That's exactly what I did and I was astounded to notice that Pennick had missed something very important - something he himself strongly hints at concerning runes, magic squares, and one of the world's oldest and most wide-spread games, about which little is really known except that it seems to have been played in almost all times, by nearly all peoples, for the past several thousand years... or maybe even into the stone age. Sounds cryptic, eh? And so it must remain until you do the work and solve the puzzle for yourself, he he he!

I'd give this book five stars, but I do think it could have been organized in a tighter manner. But make no mistake, if you are interested enough in the subject matter to have read this far, you need this book!

After noticing the relationship between games, tombs, and religion, this seemed a natural line of investigation for me. What I was really seeking was a relationship between board games found in various cultures and I was fascinated at Pennick's thesis. Pennick indicated that the Hindu Paramasayika grid is a pattern used by many grid games and, ultimately, into Celtic games like Tawlbrwd (the ancient Irish game) which featured the sacred hole in the middle with patterns of 8 around it (much like the Paramasayika that has a sacred space of 9 squares representing the Brahma in the middle). There seems to be a relation between the 9 square grid that becomes simplified into the 8 square grid of Ashtapada and eventually, chess and checkers.

Unfortunately, Pennick doesn't always show the best evidence for his connections. While he doesn't always use the forbidden academic phrase popular among conspiracy theorists that something is "obvious" (meaning there is no actual evidence, as a rule), there is a tendency to simply cite similar examples as though it proves the connections.

The other weakness in the book is that Pennick is so fascinated by the occult that the interesting historical examples sometimes become supporting characters to discussions of divination and fortune-telling. Though there is no doubt as to the use of arrows, stones, and dice in fortune-telling prior to the advent of cards, it often seems that Pennick goes overboard in explaining "how to" when readers like me are more interested in the fact of the practice and the why.

Still, this is a book that will remain in my library long-term. It offers a few clues with regard to the history of games that are often ignored in more specifically academic volumes.

Play a way of teaching and making it entertaining. I was surprised to learn so much about history and culture that is incorporated in our daily fun.