Two books have crossed my desk recently of which game enthusiasts should be made aware. The first is an old classic brought back into print, while the second is a new gem which will amaze and delight you.
Sid Sackson is arguably the premiere authority on games in the world today. His collection of games is enormous-- the largest private collection in the world. He written hundreds of articles, devised innumerable puzzles and invented a tremendous quantity of games. Sackson is responsible for such favorites as Sleuth, Bazaar, Venture, Can't Stop, and of course, Acquire. In 1969 Sackson published A Gamut of Games, a collection of new games invented by Sackson and his friends. The book, reprinted in 1982, has been out of print and difficult to obtain for quite some time. Now it's back in a new edition from Dover Publications, and no self-respecting gamer has an excuse any longer for not having a copy on her shelf.
In his preface, Sackson explains that he set out to present fresh games which go beyond the recycled chestnuts so often found in Hoyle-type books. A Gamut of Games offers the reader thirty-eight games, over half of them invented by Sackson himself. Some use a deck of cards, some use a checkerboard, others use pencil and paper. All can be played using simple equipment you probably already have lying around your home. The simplicity of the equipment only underscores the ingenuity of the games themselves.
The variety of games really does run the gamut. There are games of chance, games of skill, and games with elements of both. Games of logic mingle with games of strategy. Some games are designed for solitaire play, while others accomodate numerous players. As Sackson himself puts it, "It would be too much to expect that every game will appeal to every reader, but it will be a rare reader who won't find several games that he really likes and at least one that he loves."
I picked up my copy just before my European trip this summer and carried it with me on my journey. I played the card game Mate on the flight to London. The two-player variation of Solitaire Dice added a new dimension to a visit to a park overlooking the Danube in Budapest. Bowling Solitaire eased the boredom during a rainy evening at a Munich hostel. And back Stateside, a game of Haggle livened up a gathering of friends. Lines of Action, a strategy game included in the book, has attracted quite a following and is played via email by members of various gaming societies.
As an added bonus, A Gamut of Games includes a collection of very brief reviews of games in print. These consist of a paragraph on each of over 300 games, including the publisher, designer (when possible), and number of players. This appendix wasn't updated for the new edition, however, so you'll only find games from 1982 and earlier listed-- and many of these are out of print. Nevertheless, this section is a valuable reference and will undoubtedly give weekend value hunters something new to hunt for at garage sales.
A Gamut of Games by Sid Sackson carries a cover price of $6.95 and an ISBN number of 0-486-27347-4.
For those of you more puzzle-oriented, particularly those partial to mathematical curiosities and conundrums, Malba Tahan's The Man Who Counted is a worth hunting down. Written in 1972 by a Brazilian mathematician seeking to popularize some of the mysteries and delights of math, it was only last year translated into English and published in America.
Set in Baghdad circa 1321, The Man Who Counted is the story of Beremiz Samir, a man gifted with tremendous mathematical acuity. Through the eyes of a man who befriends Beremiz on the road one day, we witness Beremiz use his extraordinary talent to settle disputes, give sage advice, and win himself rich rewards-- as well as present fascinating mathematical oddities for the reader's bemusement and edification. Upon entering an inn called The Four Fours, for example, Beremiz remarks that using simple mathematics, you can use four fours to yield any number between one and ten. 44-44 = 0, 44/44 = 1, 4/4 + 4/4 = 2, (4+4+4)/4 = 3, 4 + (4 -4)/4 = 4, and so on.
Later, Beremiz is told of a rajah who willed his daughters a certain number of pearls with the instructions that his first daughter receive one pearl plus one seventh of those remaining, his second daughter get two pearls plus one seventh of those remaining, his third daughter get three plus one seventh of the remainder, and so forth. His daughters complained to a judge that this scheme was unfair, but the judge upheld the bequest as being just.because each daughter would receive the same number of pearls. From this information, Beremiz determined the total number of pearls the rajah left behind and how many daughters he had. Can you?
Most fascinating to me was the revelation of the extremely odd property of the number 142,857 when multiplied. When doubled, the numbers in the product are the same as in the original number and are in the same order, but in different positions. This holds true when multiplied by 3, 4, and 5. When multiplied by six, the two groups of numbers swap places. When multiplied by seven, the product is 999,999. When multiplied by eight, the product is 1,142,856. Here, the seven in the original number has been split into two parts-- one and six-- which appear on each end of the product. The oddity of 142,857 continues to manifest when multiplied by 11, 12, 13, and so on.
The story is told in the style of classic Arabian fables like the 1,001 Nights-- a style that makes for easy reading and keeps the material entertaining and approachable. In fact, it is so accessible that a friend of mine is planning to use it to teach math to his future students. Were I a junior high or high school math teacher, I would certainly try to incorporate The Man Who Counted into my curriculum. Books like this turn potentially dry areas of study like mathematics into fun activities that stimulate the imagination. And they make delightful, light bedtime reading.
The Man Who Counted by Malba Tahan, subtitled a collection of mathematical adventures, is published by W. W. Norton and Co. with a cover price of $9.95 and an ISBN number of 0-393-30934-7. And by the way, the answer to the problem of the rajah's bequest is that there are thirty-six pearls distributed amongst six daughters. Salaam. ]