How We Got Here - Game Design Theory - page 68

In ancient Egypt, fishermen on rafts in the Nile River would fight each
other with oars until one man was knocked into the water. We can see a
modern equivalent in the television show American Gladiators , and not
only is it still a game, but it can be very exciting to watch.
Ball Games
Ball games generally tend to fall into one of two categories: ball-and-
stick games (such as lacrosse or hockey), and pure ball games (such as
football or soccer).
One of the earliest sports, the ancient sport of hurling, has Gaelic
origins that date back 3,000 years. Like Go, this is a game that is still be-
ing played despite its age. There are some aspects of hurling that should
interest game designers. In many ways it looks like modern lacrosse, but
in a design move that is very conscious of decision making, there are two
goal areas in hurling. It's worth three points to get the ball past the goalie
in a normal soccer-like goal, but there's also a second goal above that one
that looks more like the uprights you'd see in football. Putting the ball
between these uprights is easier, but it's only worth one point. The dual
goals lend a very decision-oriented aspect to the game.
Even though most ancient sports (like most ancient board games)
are contests and not games, I highly recommend that game designers
spend some time researching them, as even contests can inspire in-
teresting types of gameplay. For further reading on the topic, I recom-
mend Steve Craig's Sports and Games of the Ancients (Sports and Games
Through History) .
Playing Card Evolution
There are thousands of games that can be played with the modern deck
of playing cards, and many variations on the classic 52-card deck that
we all know. Playing cards first appeared in ancient China, eventually
showed up in Europe in the 14th century, and have had a long, interest-
ing path of design changes, including different numbers of cards in the
deck, the types of suits, and the inclusion and types of face cards. The
modern deck reflects almost a millennium of additions, removals, cul-
tural references, spiritual symbolism, and changes based on pure game
design (I'll go into more detail on card games in Chapter 5 ).
What's interesting, though, is that the evolution of playing cards was
not driven entirely by game design: many cultural, political, and eco-
nomic factors all influenced the way playing cards were used over time.
For example, it's said that one of the reasons that aces are considered