PAW: Playing around the world

Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica Ac Hydrographica Tabula

Mariette, Pierre-Jean e Hondius, Jodocus, 1642

Disponível em http://www.davidrumsey.com/

Do you play?
Somewhere in this world?
Step in and leave your PAW print!

Send a message to gamesinbw@gmail.com, with:

• Photo of a game session
• Name of the game
• Your name 
• City 
• Country 

And, if you feel like, a short sentence about the game or gaming session.

PAW, coming soon!

How to play: Mancala

My first contact with this game family was made in French, and under the name "Awélé”. Those were the days of the magazine Jeux & Stratégie. And of the book of Franços Pingaud, bought at "L ' Impensé Radical", in the heart of Paris, just across Jardin du Luxembourg, in the number 1 of Rue de Médicis. The bookstore, dedicated to strategy, no longer lives there.

Among the many versions and variants, board shapes and sizes, I'm going to use the one then proposed by Pingaud, for this sowing and harvesting game, played by two.

Material 

• board game consisting of two rows of 6 carved  spaces;
• 48 pieces, which I will call seeds.  

If you do not own one of these sets, improvise, do it yourself:

• with marbles, beads, bearings or other parts, for the seeds; 
• with small cups, glasses or other containers, for the spaces;
• in wood or clay, if you have the skills;
• with small holes dug in the sand, if you are at the beach!

Objective

• to harvest more seeds than your opponent. 

Game setup

• place the game board between the players, each facing one of the 6-space rows;
• put 4 seeds in each space;
• draw lots for the starting player.

Sowing 

• the player in turn chooses a space, on his side of the board, containing seeds;
• he grabs them all;
• he distributes them, one for each of the following spaces, in an anticlockwise direction;
• seeds can be placed in the opponent's spaces;

• you may go around sowing for one or more laps, if there are seeds enough in the starting space;
• starting space space must remain empty for the turn and therefore, one has to “jump” over it after each turn, and continue the sowing in the following spaces;
• there is no limit for the number of seeds in each space.

Harvesting

• one can only harvest after the sowing, and in spaces on the opponent side; 
• start to check the situation of the last sown space in the turn;
• if it has less than two or more than three seeds no harvest takes place and the game turn ends;
• if it has two or three seeds, those are collected and placed in a pile next to the board, for the final scoring; 
• in such a case, the analysis process is repeated for the immediately preceding space;
• again, if it also contains two or three seeds, they are harvested as well; 
• and so on, until reaching a space where no harvest can take place;

• example of a "single" harvest: the player on the "low" side reaps two seeds:

• example of "sequential" harvest: the player on the "low" side reaps 2 + 3 + 2 seeds:

Game ending

• by starvation, i.e., when the player who must sow does not have any seed in his side of the board; in such a  case, not being able to play, he reaps all the remaining seeds on the opponent side! 
• example: the player on the "low” side moves his last two seeds; regardless of the choice of the player on the “top” side, he will not be able to place seeds at the bottom; therefore, in the next turn, the player on the "low" side is starved and reaps the 6 remaining seeds;

• by stalemate, when the number of seeds on the board is too small and it is not possible to harvest anymore;
• example: in this position you can endlessly move around, since each player is able to feed the opponent, thus avoiding hunger, but being unable to reap;

• it is also possible to end the game when a player has already reaped the majority of the seeds, i.e. 25, ensuring victory; to better learn the game I recommend, however, that you continue to play until one of the other two scenarios arise.

And now, let's play!

When Kings play

Illustration from "Alfonso X's Book of Games"

Avaliable at http://games.rengeekcentral.com/tcintro.html

Picture yourself in the Court of a King, not one of present day, but one of ancient times. A long, long time ago. When the world was another, made of smaller worlds, which didn't knew each other yet.  The year was 1283. The Kingdom was located in the Iberian Peninsula. The book, written and illustrated by Royal command, was finished. Time to give the floor to the monarch himself, Alfonso X, alias the Wise.

"Because God wanted that man have every manner of happiness, in himself naturally, so that he could suffer the cares and troubles when they came to them, therefore men sought out many ways that they could have this happiness completely. Wherefore they found and made many types of play and pieces with which to delight themselves.

(…)

The other games that are done sitting are like playing chess, tables and dice and other game pieces of many types. And though all these games are each very good in the time and place where they belong, but because these latter games are played sitting they are every day and they are done as well at night as in the day; and because women who do not ride and are confined are to use them; and also men who are old and weak, or those who like to take their pleasures separately in order not to be irritated or grieved by them; or those who are under another’s power as in prison or captivity or who are at sea. And equally all those who have harsh weather so that they cannot ride or go hunting or elsewhere and have perforce to remain indoors and seek some kinds of sport with which to amuse and comfort themselves and not be idle.

And therefore we don Alfonso by the grace of God King of Castile, Toledo, Leon, Galicia, Seville, Cordova, Murcia, Jaen and Algarve commanded that this book be made in which we speak about in which those games are made most beautifully, like chess, dice and tables. 

And although these games may be divided in many ways, because chess is more noble and of greater mastery than the others, we speak of it first. 

But before we talk of this we wish to show some reasons, according to what the ancient wise men said, that these three types of games – chess, dice and tables – were invented. Because about this they gave many reasons, each one wishing to show why these games were invented but those which are most certain and most true are these.

As it is told in the ancient histories of India there was a king who greatly loved his wise men and had them always with him and he made them very often to reason over the nature of things. And of these he had three there who had various opinions. 

The one said that brains were worth more than luck because he that lived by his brain did things in an orderly fashion and even if he lost that he was not to blame in this because he did what suited him. 

The other said that luck was worth more than brains because if his fortune was to lose or to win, no matter how much brains he might have, he could not avoid it. 

The third one said that best was he who could live drawing upon the one and the other because this was prudence, because the more brains he had, the more care he could take to do things as completely as he could. And also the more he depended upon luck, the greater there would be his risk because it is not a certain thing. But truest prudence was to take from the brain that which man understood was most to his advantage and from luck man should protect himself from harm as much as he could and to help himself with what was to him advantage from it.

And after they had spoken their reasons very zealously the king ordered therefore that each one bring an example to prove that which they said and he gave them the time period which they requested. They went away and consulted their books, each according to his opinion. 

And when the time arrived, they each came before the king with their example. 

And the one whose opinion was brains brought chess with its pieces showing that he that had more brains and who was perceptive could beat the other. 

And the second whose opinion was fortune brought dice showing that brains mattered nothing without luck because it seemed through luck that men came to their advantage or their harm. 

The third who said that it was best to draw from both brought the tables board with its pieces counted and placed orderly in their spaces and with its dice which move them in order to play, as is shown in this book which speaks separately about this and which teaches that through their play, he that knows how to play them well, even though the luck of the dice be against him, that because of his prudence he will be able to play his pieces in such a manner as to avoid the harm that may come to him through the rolls of the dice."

In "Alfonso X's Book of games", translated by Sonja Musser Golladay, 2005.

http://www.ancientgames.org/wp-content/uploads/Alfonso-Xs-Book-of-Games-Translated-by-Sonja-Musser-Golladay-2003.pdf

Photosynthesis

The colors! The shades! The trees! Just looking at it makes one want to find out what is hiding beneath the artwork of Sabrina Miramon. Even more in these Autumn days, they too dressed in light and shadows, dyed with a broad palette of colours, both in the sky and in the falling leaves. Welcome to the world of Photosynthesis, a creation of Hjalmar Hach!

The principles governing this world, dependent on the Sun, are very easy to understand.

Tree leaves receive energy from the Sun. Larger trees have more leaves and, therefore, capture more energy. The trees cast a shadow, according to the Sun position. Larger trees cast larger shadows. Shadowed trees do not receive energy. Important detail: the position of the king star changes every turn, circling around the grove, so that light direction and, therefore, that of the shadows, are constantly changing. This is the first phase of each player’s turn: energy storage, counted in energy points.

The board game represents the land where vegetation grows. A seed is released into the ground. From the seed a small tree is born. The tree grows. Then, it grows even more. During the whole process it may release new seeds, and the higher the tree the farther away the seeds can travel. Finally, the tall tree is chopped down. Each one of these steps spends energy points.

This is very much the game: each player develops and chops downs trees of the same family, represented by a color. In order to do so one has to carefully choose where to sow, which trees to grow and when, the right moment to chop them down and how to manage your tree nursery and seed bed. All this taking into account the movement of the Sun, the light and the shadows!

After three full Sun revolutions the game comes to an end and the player with more victory points wins. These are obtained only when the larger trees are chopped down. Bear in mind that the wood land is not uniform: there are areas of richer soil, providing more victory points than others.

This is a game for 2 to 4 players, which you can start playing in 15 minutes, time required to assemble the trees included.

The rule booklet includes two advanced rules: have the Sun do another revolution, extending the game; and preclude the planting of a seed or the growth of a tree when in a shadow. Stuff to try out!

Only have played some 2 and 3 player games. Yet to test the 4 player game, which will lead to a much denser grove, adding to the struggle for light and to increased shadow effects.

I really love the aesthetics; the simple and carefully designed game engine; the nice and up to the point rule booklet; the player boards, containing all the information needed for a fluid game play; the box, large enough to store the trees without disassembling, and thus reducing the wear of parts; and not using plastic.

To play more!

Game: Hach, Hjalmar. Photosynthesis. Pont-à-Mousson, França: Blue Orange, 2017.

At InvictaCon2018

Saturday. Gray autumn day, tasting like rain. 4 PM. No one in sight, in the surroundings of Gondomar multipurpose hall (near Porto, Portugal), as to match the uninviting weather. No! There’s someone. A man heading for the entrance. He seems to be seeking the same as we. We followed him. Then, we just followed the voices heard in the distance. And, suddenly, we struck gold. More accurately, we arrived at the Golden Room. A big crowded room, warm, full of cheerful people, of all ages, sitting around tables. Playing!

Over the tables, some known games. And also games looking brand new, just arrived from Spiel2018, held in Essen, Germany, waiting to be opened for the first time. A corner holding tournament games. In other area, wargame miniatures are used to recreate combats. In another one, masters lead role playing games. And there are also creators, play testing their games. We just have to walk in, look around, pick up a free chair or request a game at the welcome desk. With the certainty that someone will always be around, readily available to help trough the rules. And add to the fun.

Welcome to InvictaCon2018, the 12th Porto National Meeting of Board Games and RPGs, of its full name. Three days of games, from 9 to 11 November, organised by the Boardgamers Group of Porto, with a staff of 21 volunteers for the occasion. With around 340 games available on location and an estimate of about 1000 participants, half of whom newcomers to the event, just like me. Board games are alive and kicking!

I challenged Ricardo Biscaia, one of the organisers, to choose no more than three games, among all the games in display. The choices were: Azul, by being, once again, the most requested; a game that uses, as theme, Portuguese tiles or stained glass. Brass: Birmingham, the InvictaCon cover photo, an economic strategy game whose action takes place in England, during the industrial revolution, illustrating the type of games that the Group prefers. Teotihuacan-City of God, one of the novelties brought from Essen, because of the wide consensus achieved, and where we manage a force of workers, developing the mythical town and building the Sun Pyramid.

I took the challenge one step further, asking Ricardo to choose his game "of the moment" and also one of the "classics", a game that stood the test of time and to which he returns time and again. These are the choices: Through the Ages: the New Story of Civilizaton, with its perfect combination of strategy, tactics, luck and "fortune management”, a game that will stay on top; and Settlers of Catan.

A couple of hours well spent but that, unfortunately, were not enough to try out a few games. Next time! Thanks to Ricardo Biscaia, for his availability and all the useful information, and to David Pereira, one of our guides at the event. 

For those looking for partners or games, at the “Invicta” City, the Port Boardgamers group gathers in Centro Comercial Cristal Park, every Thursday and on the last Saturday of every month.

And, just to wrap-up, some images of games, of course! You can find information on these and many, many, many more, at https://boardgamegeek.com/.

Cerebria

Scythe

Tzolk'in

Presidium

Pathfinder, a Role Playing Game

WW II miniature wargame

Raw material

The classic of all classics

Chess. Where to start, if not here? With this game much older than most Nations, and still very much alive! True symbol of abstract strategy games, for two to play; mind against mind; without any external factors whatsoever; without any possibility of escape and with an aura of complexity only within reach for a few. That may be somewhat intimidating.

"In chess you can't fool yourself or fool the other: your moves indicate your strength", said Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Chessplayer, Grand Master and, also, current Minister of Finance of Latvia. But the force is something that you learn, train and feel! The force is strong in this one.

It is not difficult to start: the rules are simpler than those of many other games. Try Advanced Squad Leader! The goal is clear: to capture the opponent's King. The terrain of game is small, eight by eight, so you can't wander around. The armies are in symmetrical positions. And with half of the squares occupied from the outset, the confrontation is almost immediate. Six different pieces: Kings and Queens, Bishops, Knights, Rooks and Pawns. Each with moving in different ways and with some specific characteristics: the pawns who walk slowly but without ever retreat, the jumping horses, the bishops making diagonal moves, the rooks moving in straight lights, the Queen’s going straight or diagonally, as Kings do, but in a much slower way and in need of protection.

One must start with the basics, meaning in chess to start at the very end, and take pleasure in the discovery. Learn how to capture the King with different pieces and combinations of pieces. Attack, defense, strengths, weaknesses. Harmonies. And from those foundations you only have to continue developing your understanding of the game.

To me, it is an over four decades long companion. The friendly games. The practice with friends. The first books and how the masters play becomes into game theory. The encoding of games. The problems to solve. The exercise of memory that gives you speed. A journey through Europe and the World with the Scotch Game, the Spanish, English or Italian openings, French or Sicilian defenses, the Indian Games. The names of the masters and champions. Time management. The competition.

64 houses, light and dark. Land on which Kings and Queens, Bishops and Pawns, Knights and Rooks are on the move. For minutes or hours, which can be short or long. Two players, apparently still. Except for their eyes, darting all across the board, running through imagination, devising futures, plausible, probable, inevitable. The opponent disappears. Becomes invisible. Leaving only the army. He's the opponent. Calculations. Unfathomable to many. But which are just a tiny part. There are themes and motifs feeding the score. Development. Speed. Initiative. Pawn structure. Open, half-open or closed columns. The Bishop pair. Good and bad bishops. Sacrifices. Speculation. Pressure. Load and overload. Detour. Diversion. Theory. Practice. Knowledge. Confidence. Surprise. Fear. And beauty, when it all comes together: the strategic principles, the tactical motifs, the blow that disrupts the balance, the variants under control. Victory. Defeat. More than a game.

Much more than a game. Raised even to symbol of supremacy, during cold war. As in the 1972 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, two players, two people only, but with two opposed worlds behind their backs. United States of America and the Soviet Union. Or in matches between Karpov and Korchnoi, the soviet dissident, in 1978. And, just later on, with the coming of Kasparov, the third "K" on this trilogy, once again the rebel against the system, represented yet again by Anatoly Karpov. Stories within History, with some incredible episodes, featuring parapsychologists, yoghurts delivering messages, and all the fuss about chairs or the audience layout, as well as other behind-the-scenes acts.

2018. November. Day 9. London. The College. A new world title fight begins, between the first two players of the ranking: Magnus Carlsen, of Norway, defending champion, and Fabio Caruana, of the United States. A match scheduled for 12 games. A dozen battles. In black and white. Yesterday, Carlsen was the black, and Caruana the white. A game that had 115 moves, and took 7 hours. Much more than a marathon or five sets of tennis at the highest level. And it all ended in a deadlock. The Kings clinging to their pawns, the rooks blocking other possibilities. Carlsen’s extra pawn couldn't make a difference. A tie was agreed upon. And this was the final position, seen from the side of Caruana, the White. Today there is more to come!

Pictures of a countdown

The 13 steps of the blog launch countdown.
For those who missed it.
For those who want to see it again.
To run through and find out the games used in it!

In Black and White

The countdown has reached the end. D-Day has arrived. This blog starts.

To play or not to play?
To play, off course!
Always.
Since always.
Since almost as far back as I can remember.

To play. Discover new worlds, with landscapes, characters, rules and even languages of their own. Travel across the boards, roll the dice, deal the cards. Handle tokens made of many different materials, in all shapes and sizes; with strong colours or in plain black and white. Decipher riddles, design strategies, challenge the odds. Feel the pressure of time trickling away, measured with a watch, an hourglass or in turns of play. The thrill of trying to be first. The joy of observing an unfolding game, watching it gain life. The long holiday afternoons. The warmth of playing with friends, around the table.

Go

To play. In black and white. Literally, on the boards and on the pieces. As in the great classics, that have come across centuries and civilisations: Chess, Go, Draughts. Games in which everything is in plain sight, since the very beginning. With no hidden surprises whatsoever. But, even so, where it is not possible to foreseen it all, to the very end. Keeping the mystery alive. Which takes two to be solved.

In black and white. Figuratively, as in opposing sides. Me and the other. We and the others. Partners and rivals. Balance and imbalance. Calculations and decisions.

Black with white. Shades of grey. Nuances and uncertainties. All it takes is to add a dice, and everything changes. Hypothesis, probabilities, risk, caution. Every decision, every move, becomes dependent. Trying to make the best of what lady luck has to offer. As in backgammon.

In full colour. Games for three, four, five or even more players. In interaction. With themes and with roles to play. Cooperation or confrontation. Alliances and betrayals. Asymmetries. Simulating reality, fictionalising realities or remaining in the abstract domain. In outer space or on planet Earth.

Compete, negotiate, buy, sell, sow, multiply, build, destroy, cure, infect, fight, conquer, rule, travel, unite, take over, run, climb, descend, speed up, fly, grow, transform, transform yourself and plus everything else that might be imagined. Parallel worlds, in continuous creation.

A pallet of choices. For all and for each one. Even better, suited to each one’s taste. Simple or complex. Immediate or progressive in learning. To spend a mere fifteen minutes or a whole afternoon. To play a couple of times or to come back again and again. To think hard or just to push the pieces around. With luck or without it. To appreciate the aesthetics or the mechanism. The creation or the creator. To play or to collect.

Tresham, Francis. Civilization
Northampton: Hartland Trefoil Ltd., 1980. Gibson Games

In black and white.
Playing in black and white.
Symbolising all board games.
No computers involved, unplugged.
This is a travel blog in the land of games.

Wandering, aimlessly, throughout time and space.

Exploring distant pasts, measured in centuries or even millennia, reaching the deep roots of well-known games. Seeking memories from a less distant past, some decades or even few years ago, visiting "my" games. Trying out the games of today and, who knows, those that are being created for tomorrow.

Wandering through places where games are played, where you can find and buy them, and spaces for their creation and development. Traversing territories that may not be found on the city streets, but where games are present: photography, books, music, movies.

Opinion. Pictures. History. Stories. Rules. Tests. Modifications. Analyses. "My" games. The Classics. The New. The Old. Places. Creations. Creators. Disseminators. Languages. Books. Magazines. Publishers.

Everything will fit in here.
In the land of games.
Wandering.

Come on board for this journey!
Read, comment, suggest.
And, of course, play!

Wandering in the land of games. Unplugged. Fuelled by passion. Moving across time and space. Over boards and tables. In the company of tokens, dices and cards, of all shapes and sizes. Pathways with history and with stories. For sharing.

"My name is Gamer ... Board Gamer".

D-1

Wagon loaded. We're ready to go!

La Guerra de Nube Roja [The War of Red Cloud]

In “Juegos de Las Batallas 1 – El Salvaje Oeste”. Barcelona: Plaza & Janes, S.A. Editores, 1977

D-2

Taking to the streets.

Rodriguez, Jean-Charles and Sylvie. Cortege Officiel [Official Parade]

In Jeux & Stratégie, n.º 24, Paris, Excelsior Publications, Paris, 1983

D-3

Eastern winds are blowing.

Mah-Jong

D-4

Neither Dukaten nor Ducat. In Alhambra we say Ducados.

Henn, Dirk. Alhambra
Troisdorf: Queen Games, 2003, 2011