Games People Play

Except for word games (read: Scrabble), I have never liked games, and have never seen their attraction.

Cards are the worst. When I was in school, I learned to play bridge probably six times; each time I would forget the most basic rules by the time I woke up the next morning. I used to play gin with my grandmother (you remember, I grew up in a house with seven adults), and vaguely remember something about the number eleven. I assume the difference between five card stud and seven card stud is two cards, but I have no idea what the difference between stud and draw may be (I used to know), or what either is. I know when you play Go Fish, you say Go Fish, but for the life of me I cannot think of why. Solitaire is probably the hardest of all for me to play, because (if I remember correctly) there is no one to ask if you can't remember the next move, or why you made the last one.

Board games are really a waste of time, I think. Occasionally, a game of monopoly might be OK, if you are playing with people who don't care, and all you are really doing is being sociable, but if you have even one serious player, I am outta there.

Checkers is OK if you are playing with an eight year old. And I have always like the idea of chess, but when you try to do it on a board, reality sinks in, as does boredom.

I have no idea how to play backgammon (learned 12 times), parcheesi (learned 8 times), or dominoes. At a casino, I can understand the slots, but not craps or roulette or blackjack (I know that has something to do with twenty one).

But, I do like exhibits, so I decided to go to see the Asian Games exhibit at the Sackler (closing on Sunday). This was a large exhibit of game pieces/works of art from China, Japan, India and other parts of Asia. I was not certain that I would like the exhibit any more than the games, but it was worth a lunch hour.

Old dice (squares and cylinder shaped, with all sorts of numbers for all sorts of throwing games), pachesi boards (the Indian ancestor of parcheesi, with boards made of leather and beads, as well as wood, and in very bright colors), liubo sets (never heard of that, huh? an example of a game that died out, although for 500 years in China it was the rage.

A "chutes and ladders" room with games akin to today's Chutes and Ladders, including many story lines, some involving progress in school, and one terrific Chinese version, allowing you to progress from being a lowly peasant to the highest ranking Mandarin. The boards of each of these games (not suprisingly) designed with extraordinary skill and care.

Backgammon from Iran. And of course, chess, from Persia and India. The ornate inlaid wood boards, and the ivory pieces, some stained or painted, some natural. The most interesting pieces being from the time of the English Raj. Ornate mounted soldiers, elephants and other animal pieces. And, if chess is getting old hat, try to Chinese versions, Xiangsi or Shogi.

And of course there is Go, played in China for at least 2500 years, and later in Japan, and considered an intellectual sport so complex that no world class champion has ever been defeated by a computer. The game is too complex. (Unfortunately, I could not stay long enough for the 1:30 how to play Go exhibit by the American Go Society. At 1:30, it was too late for Go. I was Gone.).

A room devoted to Sri Krishna Raja Wodeyar III, ruler of Myore, 19th century collector of games and game history, and inventor of games. Cards of all sorts, square, rectangle and round. Tile games (but did I miss the mah jong?) and dominoes. Japanese shell games (hundreds of similar, but not identical, shells, painted almost, but not quite, alike; try to match them).

Ball games. Throwing games. Old soccer-like sports. Pitching games (such as pitch the arrows into the vase). Badminton.

And an interesting room of equipment and works of art devoted to the king of sports, polo (yes, it was interesting and Asian, but did it belong).

Then, go round one more corner, to the "Game Over" sign.

I still don't like games. But exhibits of games are, I guess, something different.