Notes for “Games Britannia” Episode One: Dicing with Destiny

You cannot play Monopoly without arguments rising.

1996 – Near Colchester – Grave from 43AB – Board game found – The earliest game found in Britain. Game from Pre-Roman invasion, British made.

You get play but not games in the animal kingdom.

Grave believed to have belonged to a druid; the game board possible ritualistic item?

Games – a form of self-exploration?

9 Mens Morris – Naughts and Crosses

The kind of game that can be found almost anywhere – game at their most basic level.

Hazard – Game brought from the East. Players gamble on dice outcome. Bet more each round until you back out.

Dice are one of the best tools for cheating

Faro – More popular among the rich/elite, give their life a sense of risk.

1923 – Murder over first game. Murderer was executed. The crime was quickly turned into West End musicals and plays. Propaganda was spread across England, warning of the risks.

Goose – Family game – Spinning top instead of dice – Designed to teach basic manners – plenty of penalties, some rewards.

Many people created Gooses-like games, working off the base of virtue and good.

Snakes and Ladders - -Inspired by Gyan Chapoor (Quite interested in playing this game I have to say.) – Indian game – Racing for enlightenment. Less fun, more enlightening.

Ludo and Snakes and Ladders, two games based from Indian games, were simplified for the British public.

Chess – Highest evolved board game. Abstract game of immense depth. India 15^th century. Staunton created first Chess international tournament – This set the rules globally for the game.

Spiritual and mastery became less important, more personal.

Overall from the episode, I found myself quite interested in Gyan Chapoor, as a board game based around the search for spiritual enlightenment seems rather unique to me, especially in this day and age. I didn’t realise that it took such a long time for the rules of chess to be internationally set. Overall, it was a good episode of the show, which made me look at classic board games in a different light, seeing where they originally stemmed from.