Book Review

The Games Treasury

Chapters Publishing, 1993
by Merilyn Simonds Mohr

Reviewed by Peter Zvalo

Leisure time. In the fast-paced '90s, there seems to be less and less of it. For writers, using leisure time to rejuvenate the senses is particularly important for maintaining the creative flair required to produce consistently good work. Spending one's leisure time in a constructive way, however, is easier said than done. When fatigue sets in, as is often the case after a hectic week, it is easier to simply position one's self in front of the television set and load the VCR with one of the week's most popular movies than it is to come up with complicated plans for actually doing something.

But there are alternatives. For many people, playing games with friends and family provides a more interactive, and often more fulfilling, way to relax. Over the ages, hundreds of games have woven themselves into our culture, often developing intricate rules and traditions. A new book on the market that describes many games, from less-known ones like Mah Jongg (a game that originated in China and was very popular for a brief period in Canada and the United States in the early 1900s) to family favourites such as Checkers and Monopoly, is The Games Treasury.

Innovative Organization of Material

The Games Treasury describes the strategies, rules, and traditions of over 300 different indoor and outdoor games. The book seeks to introduce both familiar and exotic games; it teaches the basics to beginners, and refreshes the memories of those who may have simply forgotten over the years.

As with all reference books of this type, the users of the book often want to find a specific topic quickly and easily; this requires an organization that is simple, yet logical. Traditionally, games books have been arranged by theme (e.g., battle games, race games, active games, etc.). The Games Treasury, however, was intended to be arranged according to what the game is played with rather than how it is played (hence the book's five parts: board games, games with play pieces, card games, mind games, and active outdoor games). Within each part, similar games are grouped together in individual chapters; within each chapter, the games progress in difficulty from simple to sophisticated. I found this organization to be somewhat arbitrary—and as a result, in order to find a game, it was almost always necessary to refer to the alphabetical index in the back. Furthermore, "active outdoor games" actually refers to where the game is played, not what the game is played with, as is generally the case in the other sections.

Provides Helpful Hints, Nifty Trivia

Given the scope of the book, it is impossible to delve into great detail within each game description. Consequently, the descriptions are quite general. Nevertheless, basic strategies and helpful hints are given to supplement the "nuts and bolts" information about how the games are played. For example, those of us who never know what to do with the "X" in Scrabble are encouraged to memorize a few little-known (and hard-to-find-in-a-dictionary) words such as CASHEXY and PYREXIC that use this letter. According to the book, there are ninety-four acceptable two-letter words that may be used in Scrabble, including AA, KA, MU, and UT.

Background information provided with each game description outlines the game's origin and evolution. For example, the popular children's game Tag was apparently one of the most popular games at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The game of Horseshoes, which underwent a mild resurgence in popularity in the 1980s when President George Bush admitted to an affection for the game, is actually a North American twist on the British game of Quoits; manufactured metal rings used in the British game were allegedly replaced with horseshoes out of simple necessity in the American Midwest.

This book can be a source of inspiration, particularly on those rainy spring days when you are stuck indoors. If nothing else, the next time you're playing a game of darts, you can dazzle your opponents with some slick terminology you learned (e.g., "mugs away" means losers go first; the state of being "cracked" occurs when you score a single number instead of an attempted double). Anyway, enough writing for now.

A game of Crokinole, anyone?