The Way We Play

"As cultures progressed and conflict between tribes became more common, the games would have become focused on more specific survival and combat skills. One such game, 'Wana,' was played by the young girls. A short stick representing a baby would be placed on the ground, and one girl would protect it while the rest of the girls pretended to try and murder it with their wanas (digging sticks). Another game played by young boys, 'Kalq,' involved using throwing sticks to throw and deflect a spear toward the player's opponents."

Corvus Elrod looks at the games played by tribal societies.

"Assistant Marco Ginsberg, one of 18 student staff members at the program, worked at the Roleplay Workshop for three. He says he has helped the kids flesh out the basic math skills they need to create characters and do battle. 'Watching a student who previously couldn't understand the concept of averaging memorize it after a few stat checks is a special joy in itself,' Ginsberg says."

Lacey Coleman speaks to the founders of The Roleplay Workshop, helping kids to learn through gaming.

"The Escapist spoke with the Strangers, who took great pains to remain anonymous, in the fall. The email address provided was a mysterious, generic account, and they called us, refusing to provide a number where we could call them. When we attempted a return call, the person answering the phone sounded confused, as if their phone had been used without permission. It was like we'd stumbled on some vast conspiracy, and the Strangers, like characters from a spy novel, were using signals and tells to pass us information that wasn't entirely safe to hear.

And there's a reason for that: Their art is illegal."

Russ Pitts speaks to the creators of San Francisco's Missions Stencil Project, an interactive art installation called "She Loves the Moon."

"Despite the changes, the basic storyline would always remain the same; Troy would always fall, and Odysseus would always make it home, just like Master Chief always saves the world, and Lord British always survives for another sequel. Little bits of each tale would contain similarities in structure - formulas - which not only allowed bards to more easily memorize long stories, but likely also allowed the audience to more easily understand who and what was being referred to."

Michael Fiegel traces the formulaic nature of today's game narratives to the epic poetry of centuries past.

"The boozehound is a fickle and self-challenging creature, always eager for a new way to test the limits of his drunken endurance. It's hard to imagine anything other than darts, dominoes and pool as the kingly taproom sports, though these are more recent additions to the pub arena than most drinkers realize."

Spanner takes a long pull from the pub games of England's past.