Thursday 31 May 2018

Secret Games of the Gods - Nigel Pennick (Weiser, 1989)


My interest in board games began in my youth. Besides the Parker Brothers classics of Monopoly, Clue, and Careers, I also had a 100-game set that had checkers, snakes and ladders, Parcheesi, other race-type games, and some games that were variations using the same boards.  As I grew older and got into paganism, I also began to realize just how much of past culture was preserved in children’s schoolyard games, which are passed down over recess.  So I was interested when during my travels I came across Secret Games of the Gods: Ancient Ritual Systems in Board Games by Nigel Pennick (Samuel Weiser Inc., 1989, 1997).
The book starts strong, with a good explanation of geomancy, a system based on divining four rows of either one or two dots, producing one of sixteen figures, with a meaning ascribed to each.  In this, it’s related to the I Ching, but with more widespread use.  He then goes in to magical alphabets, looking at divinatory uses of Greek, runes (both Norse and Anglo-Saxon), and Ogham (though to my understanding, it was never originally used as such).  Pennick then goes into sacred geometry, of the significance of the centre and the four directions in a number of traditions, and how this relates to astrological charts, magic squares, labyrinth construction, city and fairground design, and game boards.
He looks at strategy games like Tic-Tac-Toe, and the Merels family of games, of which Nine Mens’ Morris is perhaps the most well-known.  He spends time on the Tafl family of games, where the king at the centre, with his surrounding army, defends it against the four armies at the perimeter. Note this is also similar to the Parcheesi or Ludo family of games, where competitors race their way around the board from the perimeter to the centre (a design also incorporated into modern games like Trivial Pursuit).  Pennick also talks about conventional war games like checkers and chess, including odd variations of chess on circular or larger boards, incorporating additional pieces with different types of moves.
Curiously, when Pennick starts talking about some of the older and somewhat more obscure games, his treatment becomes relatively rushed. He is no Hoyle, explaining details of game play, but only gives the briefest of overviews. The latter part of the book can only be a companion to other sources on the games themselves, and actual game play. 
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book, at least in the edition I read, is the placement of the illustrations nowhere near the text to which they refer, leaving the reader to hunt back and forth.  Overall, it’s an interesting read, but not without its issues.  My rating: Three pentacles out of five.

June Events:
Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Jun 1-3:  Silver Cove Grand Opening, 7004 Macleod Trail.
Jun 2-3:  Calgary Horror Con at Clarion Hotel.  http://horror-con.ca
Jun 3, 10:00 am:  Calgary Lilac Festival on 4 St. SW.  http://lilacfestival.net
Jun 4-10:  Canadian Environment Week.
Jun 5-7:  Mayor’s Environment Expo at City Hall.
Jun 8, 9:30 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Rockyview Hotel, Cochrane, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2kFbHwK
Jun 9-10:  Summer Skirmish 2018 at the Military Museums, 4520 Crowchild Trail SW.  Viking battle drills, SCA combat and archery demos, jousting, and more.  https://bit.ly/2kF6K7n
Jun 9:  Calgary New Age Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside. https://www.facebook.com/events/164222287667362/
Jun 10:  Celtic Tree-Month of Duir/Oak begins, according to Robert Graves.
Jun 13, 1:43 pm:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Duir/Oak begins.
Jun 16, 10:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Twin Cities Hotel, Longview, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2LcjXzE
Jun 17:  Fathers’ Day.
Jun 21-25:  Freezer Burn:  Alberta Regional Burning Man Festival.  http://freezerburn.org
Jun 21, 4:07 am:  Summer Solstice.
Jun 21, 6:30 pm:  Free Summer Solstice Potluck at Fish Creek Park, sponsored by Wisewood Apothecary. https://www.facebook.com/events/168438290481185/
Jun 24, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group, hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education. https://bit.ly/2Joj4Hb
Jun 27, 10:53 pm:  Full (Strawberry or Strong Sun) Moon.
Jun 30, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet. 
Jul 1:  Canada Day.