ScottVee Gaming

Since we were going to the Del Mar Fairgrounds for some events anyway, we figured we would check out the Beyond King Tut exhibit put on by National Geographic. The exhibit itself was disappointing and literally nauseating.  After a 5 minute short film it's just hallways full of text and photos and black lights that made our heads hurt.  The dizziness kicked in right away and by the time we got to the final room which had rippling, whizbang graphics on every surface (walls, floor, ceiling) we just wanted to get the hell out of there.  There was not a single actual artifact in the exhibit, not even a pinky bone.  Just flash with no substance.  Nothing I have not heard or seen before.  Nothing we could not have seen in smaller form on Youtube.  I have no idea who the audience was, but I assume it was ADHD people with no ability to focus on things. There was one game tie-in, though.  I have already covered some ancient games here.  Kudos for sett...

The oldest known board game dates back to about 2500 BC from the city of Ur in Sumeria.  Wikipedia has a good overview of it.  BoardGameGeek , like always, has a good range of versions and information.  And one of the finest pages on the topic is over at A4 Games . One of my favorite videos about this game is the elder Irving Finkel or the Royal Museum, discoverer/creator of the rule set we know of, playing YouTuber Tom Scott over here .  It's from a few years ago, but I remembered getting a kick out of it back then, and seeing it again just now: it is something to watch grown men enjoying their little competition so much.  And all because of this simple thing from 4500 years ago: What I want to talk about is the fascination of this artifact, the mystery of its symbols.  Different sets have been found from tombs all the way down to King Tut and the early Christian Era.  A tablet of rules was found dating from 155 BC, written in cuneiform, which descri...