Seven Games: A Human History

With entertaining cultural profiles of the games of checkers, chess, go, Scrabble, backgammon, poker, and bridge, journalist Roeder (The Riddler) delivers a splashy narrative that successfully argues that games, more than just being forms of entertainment, help individuals develop strategies for navigating daily life. “Learning a game’s intricacies and playing that game with others binds us with other humans, shaping our culture and, indeed, our perspective on the ‘real’ world,” he asserts. Chess, for instance, offers players a chance to consider lengthy tactical combinations and resolve complex relationships among the pieces on the board. Legend has it, Roeder writes, that go was invented by a Chinese emperor 4,000 years ago to discipline his “unruly son.” In poker, the player must surrender to not knowing what lies in their opponents’ hands, much as they have to in real life, “where there is often a whole host of things we would like to know but that we do not: consider courtship, negotiations, warfare.” To further enrich his exploration, he weaves in luminous sketches of other fierce competitors, such as one “technochratic Scrabble sage” who advises other nationally ranked players and helped Roeder prepare for the 2019 North American Scrabble Championship. This humanistic look at some of the most popular games in history will have readers hooked. (Jan.)