boardgames

Humans have played games since prehistoric times. Games bring us together and pit us against each other. We agree to rules, take turns, develop tolerance for frustration, and learn to win and lose. We develop skills and submit to chance. Games range from luck to skill, from a throw of the dice to acing it at tennis. Games regulate aggression: only one can win, whether on a gameboard or the court. Shadow is sanctioned within the rules, creating monikers like The Black Death of chess and Boss of the Moss of golf—and in the heat of a game, shadier traits may also be revealed. But “playing games” in relationships is universally condemned as cheating. Games introduce us to conditions of life, for we must play the hand we’ve been dealt. Confronted with the limitations of ego and understanding, we may discover that games are metaphors for the movement of a mysterious cosmos.

Here’s the dream we analyze:

“I dream of this place that is dark and largely empty. The doors to the place are open. Inside there is a void, and in the void, particles. They are ominous. Dark. They exert impact on things inside this place. There is nothing inside this place except cut-outs of what look like humans. They float eerily and move through the air quickly, like ghosts. As one approaches the window through which I am looking in, the cut-out impresses as very human-like, even though it is not. It is eerily human-like. I am startled. All of a sudden, there are humans inside this place. I become aware of a lady with a shaven head. Her head reminds me of the Borg [Star Trek reference]. These particles have been affecting her and have caused her to be gone. She is alive but no longer a human--cannot be reached. Her condition cannot be undone. I am now in a room with a male human. He is not gone to the particles yet. He presents me 4 books quickly. He says they will soon be stolen. That everything in this place is stolen quickly. He says to remember the headings of books as this is the only way to keep the information, namely in one’s memory. The particles in the dream are rather ominous. The place is ominous. There is such hunger in this place, a kind that cannot be sated, hence the stealing of things.”

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Board games have only grown in variety and complexity in recent decades, but just how far back in time do these curious physical simulations go? In this episode of Invention, Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick consider the meeples of ancient history.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Board games have long been a source of social activity and family entertainment. But my guest today makes the case that board games can be more than just a way to while away the time, and can also offer insights about relationships, decision making, and the changing currents of culture. His name is Jonathan Kay and he's a co-author of the book Your Move: What Board Games Teach Us About Life. We begin our conversation discussing the board game renaissance that has taken place in the past twenty years and how today's board games are much more nuanced, complex, and arguably more fun than the classic games you probably played as a kid. Jonathan and I then discuss how the evolution of the board game Life can give us insights into our culture's changing ideas of virtue and how board games often reflect the attitudes of a given time. We then discuss what cooperative games like Pandemic tell us about how to handle overbearing people and how the game Dead of Winter highlights the way private interests often conflict with group interests. Jonathan then shares why Monopoly is such a divisive game and whether board games can teach resilience. At the end of the show, Jonathan gives his personal recommendations for board games to check out that are way better than the chutes and ladders type games you played growing up.

Get the show notes at aom.is/boardgames.

A Redditor finds a mysterious dice game in his grandparents’ basement. It reads “The Deadly Double: A Game to Play at Your Own Risk.” The Endless Thread team helps him investigate the game and finds surprising connections to Pearl Harbor, the FBI and The New Yorker.