Games Britannia : Part 1

This post is about the BBC programme "Games Britannia : Dicing with Destiny" and my thoughts on what it is trying to convey. It's a three part series and I will post more on the following episodes.

In part one Benjamin Woolley takes us on a journey looking at some games that were found and played in Britain and their origin. After what seams like a standard history lesson he then takes a more interesting view during the industrial revolution and Britain's affect on games.

He begins with the "Stanway Game" which was discovered in Colchester in 1996.
It's a pre-Roman era artifact and first of it's kind to be discovered almost completely intact in Britain, consisting of glass game pieces on a board and the game itself was strangely found as if it was stopped in play. There were no dice like objects and given that the players wouldn't have been relying on chance it was likely a war game based on strategy and intellect. The game was well preserved in a grave with divining rods and medical tools. It is believed the grave was likely to have belonged to a druid and this game could have held some spiritual meaning

Woolley then takes a look at the evidence of games through the lens of religion. I suppose this is because the religious were the only ones capable of reading and writing and able to keep such records. The "Game of the gospel" dating around the 10th century looks like an advanced version of tablut infused with religious beliefs. Both are strategic games that involve capture and escape. It's worth noting the deeply religious would frown upon chance and see it as the devil's work opting instead for deliberate thought-out games of skill.
There is also plenty of evidence of games and play in cathedrals all over England. Firstly though you have to imagine cathedrals in medieval times. They would have been a hive of activity with people waiting in corridors or celebrating important dates. This is why in many cathedrals you can find the carvings of various game boards. One of the various game boards that can be found is "Nine Men's Morris", which is like a 14th century noughts and crosses. I find it strange that this was tolerated at the time and if you were to pop down to your local cathedral today and start carving away i'm sure it would cause a stir.

Around this time a Spanish king with a passion for games created a compendium of games and surmised the best game isn't wholly reliant on luck or skill but is a balance of the two.

Now a look at the opposite end of the spectrum. Hazard was hugely popular around the 17th century, it was a gambling game using dice and an increasing pot of money. This game wasn't about strategy or just to pass time but also a way to make money and lose it.
Faro is another gambling based game, this time using cards and pure chance. Looking like a traditional casino type game played on green felt by the aristocracy but with ludicrous 50/50 odds by modern standards.
These games gave the media something to poke fun at on both ends of society and could be the beginning of the "Games are bad for you" point of view still thrown about today.

Then a very high profile murder motivated by gaming in 1823 occurred, known as Elstree or Radlett murder. A man named Thurtell shot then slit the throat of his victim Weare before stuffing the barrel down his neck. This murder was revenge fueled by a gambling loss and was picked up by the media for it's shocking violence. Thurtle was trialed and hung and his story became the inspiration for various stories and plays (The Gambler"). Later in 1845 gambling became regulated.

In the mostly protestant Victorian Britain "The Royal game of Goose" became popular amongst families. It's essentially a spiral track race game using a spinning top (after all, dice are evil) for all the family. The goal in the centre was a state of virtue and players would progress through squares with penalties and few rewards, it was essentially used to teach children how to be good.
Snakes and ladders similarly a simple children's race game has origins in Indian based on a game called Gyan Chapoor. A game where the goal is to achieve enlightenment based around Hinduism.

At this time the British Empire was vast, the British saw the games being played in it's colonies and brought them home. This in combination with the industrial revolution meant these games were recreated often unfortunately dumbing down and losing some meaning (Ludo/Hotfoot is a prime example of this) to be sold on to the masses.

So this is the biggest message this programme is trying to convey, Britain was a first in shaping the games people play with it's mass produced games because of it's unique position of many colonies and industrial technology.
The best example of this is in 1851 at the Great Exhibition when the first Chess tournament using  the Stuanton standard took place. This is the chess set you will recognise today and is the origin of a worldwide standardised chess set.

However this dominance was short lived and in the next part I will discuss the evolution of games and the effect of television and video games on the industry. Ultimately leading to the merging of the many board game manufactures in Britain into large American multinationals.