User:Thijshijsijsjss/Gossamery/A History of Play in Print

• Read on 2024-01-30
• Read it here.

Color lithography; combining lithos; Francesco Berni (1526):

He who knows without the use of a compass,
that nature, fortune, and skill make up the parts of [~ Primiera ~]
And if you look closely part by part
There are things there you will not find elsewhere.
If you want a hundred thousand cards.
Things useful, beautiful, and new.
Things to take up in the summer, and the winter.
The night and day, when it is sunny and when it rains.”

English translator and poet Charles Cotton wrote The compleat gamester [...] in 1674, which became a hallmark work describing the rules of games for polite British society [...].

Terence (BC):

The life of men is like the game of dice: If the throw
you need does not happen,
Then that which has happened through fate, you must
correct through skill.

In the 16th century, concerns over such gambling games started to arise. Of course excused for nobility -- '"it [gambling] can be a virtuous act" if it is done in moderation by those who do not undertake it to earn money'

Buoninsegni also situates the role of chance in gambling games as guided by ‘infallible providence of God’ and ‘divine will,’ excusing another problematic aspect of printed games- the act of telling the future [...].

'Fortune Book games', interweaving divinity, chance and play. Wheel of fortune representing player turns. Game of Goose as a metaphor for reincarnation

Other printed game boards of the late 16th century also visually evoke these earlier fortune book games, sharing their structure of a central image surrounded by an outward radiating wheel of symbols and text with directions for the player [...].

the kabalistic number 63, the final space, represented the number of years of human life, and the space of death near the end, which sends the player back to the beginning of the game.

Board game names used to be really uninspiring. The New Game of Honor, The New Game of Human Life. Path racing with vices and virtues. Later used in Milton Bradley's Chackered Game of Life, reproducing Victorian middle class values:

ruin and poverty -> caused by gambling and intemperance 
wealth and happiness -> caused by industry, honor, and bravery. 

In newer games of life, morality slowly being replaced by material goals. Allocation of wealth not solely based on fate anymore, but also by player actions, reflecting American 20th century capitalism. Obligatory John Green video on the history of Monopoly.

(Summarize a bit; talk about eurogames and amerigames; Catan; typical moral themes; link to video games)