The Royal Game of Ur

The Royal Game of UR

The royal game of Ur was first discovered by Sir Leonard Woolley while he was excavating tombs in Ur (hence the name). These tombs and the game boards found inside date from around 2,600BC, that is older than the pyramids of Giza which amazed me, these tiny boards have lasted as long as the pyramids. 3 full boards and 2 half boards were excavated from the tombs (Becker 2007, P.11). 

The fact that someone was buried with multiple copies of this game just goes to show how popular this game must have been in 2600BC. It really made me think about games that are made now, how we churn them out as fast as possible to make money I highly doubt any games made recently will still be played in 4000+ years.

Overall I really like the royal game of Ur, I found the rules slightly confusing at first but when I got the hang of them it became a very fun game to play.

Dicing with Destiny

Dicing with Destiny

Today in class we watched the first part of documentary Games Britannia  "Dicing with Destiny". The documentary raised many interesting points about how ancient games were created and used for many different things. The main one that stood out to me is when they explained that a tafle board could of been used by a druid to devise battle plans for a king. It also said in the documentary that one weakness we have that the animal kingdom does not is boredom and this could be why we invented board games. While I agree that boredom could be the reason we invented games I personally don't see it as a weakness and also boredom is certainly present within the animal kingdom and has been observed in many animals kept in captivity.

I also really liked the part where they showed examples of people learning from games. It showed examples like monopoly everyone knows that Mayfair is a more expensive area an Pall Mall most people would know this from playing monopoly. We can also learn real life skills from games with some pilots learning to fly from only using simulators.

I still cannot believe that games are so ingrained our lives and still get so much bad press. I look forward to the next episode.

Caillois’s Terminology

Caillois’s Terminology

Below are game types proposed by Roger Caillois. 

•  Paidia - Paidia means spontaneous play. It's when you create rules in real time the best game example I could give of this would be Disney Infinity. You play as your favourite Disney characters in a sandbox environment and you can use hundreds of unique items to make your own games inside the game. I chose this game as paidia is usually referred to as our childish essence.

•  Ludus - Ludus is the opposite of paidia, your game play is more controlled and there are usually set goals, limits or instructions  you have to follow. The game I would picked to describe ludus would be Fifa as you know what you have to do to win. Try and score as many goal as possible, there is no variation in play sure you can lob a ball but your goal is always the same, to win.

• Alea - Alea is actually the latin word for dice and can be used to describe randomness or chance in a game. The best games I could use to describe alea would be on-line slot machines.

• Ilinx - Ilinx is the act of movement within a game, the best game I could use for this is the reboot of Tomb Raider. 80% of the games mechanics are based around movement with you traversing the game world, solving puzzles by getting on certain platforms and hiding from enemies by sneaking.

Bibliography Task

Brathwaite, B. (2009) Challenges for Games Designers, Boston, course technology.


Becker, A. (2007) “The Royal Game of Ur” in Finkel, (ed). pp. 11-15.

Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens; a study of the play-element in culture. Boston, Beacon Press.


Lee - Maffei, G and Houze, R (2010) "Art Nouveau in fin - de - siecle France" in Silverman, D. (ed) The Design History Reader, New York, Berg, pp. 75-81.

Schell, J. (2008) The art of game design: a book of lenses. United States: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.

Siggurdsson (2013). Battle of Svolder: Norse King Olaf Tryggvason Defeated by Coalition of Enemy Navies. Available: http://burnpit.us/2013/09/battle-svolder-norse-king-olaf-tryggvason-defeated-coalition-enemy-navies. Last Accessed 3rd March 2015.

First Blog - Samuel Holmes

Hi all,


I am new to blogs so not sure how to start this but my name is Samuel Holmes and here are my answer to the interview questions.

What is title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading, or what is the title of the last fiction book you read?

I am not really a huge reader a book has to really engage me to make me read to the end. The last fiction book I read was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I am a big fan of  harry potter and have read every book and seen every film.

What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading, or what is the title/topic of the last non-fiction book you read?

I am currently reading The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell this is a interesting book with many ideas on how to tackle games design in an efficient way.

What is the last live performance (music,drama or dance) you attended?

The last live performance I attended was a local band at a pub they weren't very good so much so I cant even remember there name. :)

What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on DVD?

The last film I watched was Tucker and Dale vs evil probably one of the funniest film I have ever seen and would recommend it to anyone.

How many hours a week do you spend playing video games?

I would say I spend around 15+ hours a week playing video games sometimes more if I haven't got much to do.

How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

I would say I spend around 3 hours playing games a week.