BookBrowse Reviews Around the World in Eighty Games by Marcus du Sautoy

BookBrowse:

As the title suggests, Marcus du Sautoy's Around the World in Eighty Games takes readers on a global journey through the history of games, complete with insights into mathematics, culture, and even a strategy tip or two.

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One of my family's most enduring holiday traditions is endeavoring to play through our extensive collection of board games between Thanksgiving and New Year's. This year, thanks to Marcus du Sautoy's fascinating survey of game history, Around the World in Eighty Games, I was able to be that annoying know-it-all providing lots of background info about the history of Chutes and Ladders and Parcheesi—and (attempting to) use some new strategies to improve my winning percentage.

As the title suggests, Du Sautoy takes both a historical and a geographical approach to his survey of games. Inspired by Phileas Fogg's transcontinental journey in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Du Sautoy visits all the continents except Antarctica—including regions where Fogg never ventured—exploring several games originating from each.

He starts his journey, appropriately enough, in the cradle of civilization—the Middle East—also home to some of the oldest games known to exist. Throughout this section, Du Sautoy considers the notion—more thoroughly examined elsewhere by Dutch historian Johan Huizinga—of whether we as a species should be classified as homo ludens ("playful human") rather than homo sapiens ("wise human"), considering how closely our identity is tied up with games. Although domesticated animals and baby animals of many species play, Du Sautoy acknowledges, their games lack the imagination and rules that define so many of those enjoyed by adult and juvenile humans alike.

In early sections on the Middle East and India, Du Sautoy explores the origins and rules of games that are popular globally, such as backgammon, chess, and hopscotch, as well as elements like dice that form the basis of countless others. Additional subjects such as senet or the royal game of Ur might be new discoveries for readers but are clearly revealed through straightforward explanations.

Throughout, Du Sautoy, who is a professor at the University of Oxford, takes a mathematical approach to his investigation. He frequently includes sidebars that explain various elements of probability, or that show how mathematics can be employed to devise a winning (or at least comparatively competitive) strategy for a game like rock paper scissors. These sections are certainly not required reading, but will be accessible to interested readers, even those who aren't particularly mathematically minded.

From India, Du Sautoy travels to China, Japan, Africa, Oceania, South America, the United States, and Europe, covering games both ancient and contemporary. He also utilizes his imaginary voyages across the bodies of water between these land areas to explore more general concepts such as the origins of card games, game theory, and the psychology of games. Some may quibble with whether these sections on topics such as the prisoner's dilemma or theater games should count toward the book's supposed total of eighty games, but chances are most readers will be having such an enjoyable time on the journey that they won't really mind this fudging of the rules.

In one particularly clever twist, the author has devised a way that the book can be "played" like a game in and of itself, by throwing a die to determine which chapter to move to next. Although this is innovative in theory, readers who follow the approach might miss out on some of the cumulative context afforded to those who take a more linear path. But the very idea hints at Du Sautoy's appropriately playful treatment of his topic—he is clearly not only a professional mathematician and an avid amateur historian, he's also a true fan of games, and his infectious delight in explaining them might prompt more than a few readers to dust off some old favorites and have a family game night of their own.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in January 2024, and has been updated for the November 2024 edition. Click here to go to this issue.