Games Britannia: Dicing with Destiny

  Games Britannia is a short BBC series that takes a look at the history of gaming throughout different cultures. In the first episode 'Dicing with Destiny' Benjamin Woolley (the presenter) says that games go beyond the basic perception of 'just a game' and are an important resource to look at our society, culture and even ourselves as individuals.

  The episode starts with a look at a recent discovery of a Roman era board game 'the Stanway Game' that is the oldest game found in Britain so far. The type of game is not recognizable but there are theories that it could be a strategy game or even a divination game. This discovery is quite exciting to historians because it challenges their perception of the importance of games in in British history.

  Woolley talks about how game types reflect on the people that play them. Such as people preferring the chance systems in dice games and other such games. There are also those who like to play games of skill and wit in order to 'prove themselves' in a sense. But in general most games are a mix of both as this is what most people would prefer to play.

 The episode goes through several games and how they have changed and adapted throughout time. The game 9 Man's Morris is a good example because it is most likely the original version of games like Noughts and Crosses and Tic-Tac-Toe.

  The game Faro was an extremely popular gambling game played a lot during during the 18th and 19th century in Britain. Mostly played among the upper classes, this game (or rather, it's players) was the cause for several bankruptcies and even a murder! The murder trial caused an uproar against gambling games in Britain which led to the increase in popularity of parlour games.

 Because dice were considered 'evil' the parlour games that followed were mostly played with spinners. The game Goose was among the first of it's kind in the Victorian times, teaching the players about virtues and punishments for certain actions. The game became so popular that many companies started to adapt the idea for mass production to get their ideals across and also, obviously, for profit.

  The Goose based games were similar to Gyan Chapoor which was an Indian game about knowledge and enlightenment, in which winning wasn't always an option, yet learning was still enabled. This game is actually the original version of Snakes and Ladders, which was simplified into a basic race game.

  The episode ends with a look at Chess and how that has developed. The game is now played all around the world in tournaments as well as at home. The level of mastery is it's main attraction and there are world champions constantly battling it out.

  Dicing with Destiny was a very insightful episode and I look forward to seeing the rest of Games Britannia to gain new perspectives on the history of games.