hist-games: Games we can talk about

[Mark Waks]

MCKAY_MICHAEL at tandem.com wrote:
>    This is a good subject to discuss, for a new list.  Justin, although many
> people on this list are also SCA members, I don't think a traditional SCA
> period cut-off (i.e. 1600-1650) is appropriate for this list.  My line is
> fuzzy, but I tend to get much less interested in things after 1800.

Reasonable, although a bit of a change; when originally announced, the
list
was specifically Medieval and Renaissance. Since there's nothing talking
about the later periods, though, it does seem sensible to include them
as
well...

>    By my arbritrary standards, I'd think most of the games mentioned are "OK",
> with the following exceptions.  These games are modern and don't have any
> "appropriate" ancestors (i.e. historically related versions) that I'm aware of
> (corrections gladly accepted!):
>    Cribbage: 18th century

Definitely not right. Cribbage per se is 17th century (although it has
mutated in the ensuing centuries, developing larger hands), and is a
very
close relative of Noddy, which is 16th century. It's actually one of the
few modern card games I sometimes encourage at SCA events, on the
grounds
that it's reasonably close to its antecedents...

> The following games are modern, but they "feel" like they probably do have
> appropriate ancestors within our period of interest.  I'd like to see a
> discussion of the history of these games to better classify them:
>    Poker: 19th century, ancestors include AsNaz, Poch, Piquet

I don't know -- Poker really feels like nothing but Poker to me. Poch
isn't
all that close; I'd be more inclined to relate it to Gleek, which at
least
has a little of the high-stakes vying flavor in it. Piquet I don't see
any
relationship with; how do you figure?

>    Other: Billards, hazzard

Which reminds me: has anyone actually done a reconstruction of early
Billiards? I've looked at the sources several times, but find them a
bit confusing and ambiguous. I'd love to hear that someone else has
already studied this closely...

				-- Justin
				   Who has a tavern that really wants
				     a billiards table...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo at pbm.com containing
the words "unsubscribe hist-games". To contact a human about problems, send
mail to owner-hist-games at pbm.com