London Baby!

The British museum in London holds many artefacts from recent and distant history.
Swords, Armour, Coins etc all on show for free to the public.
Not only this but there are multiple games related items from the past that have been preserved in time in the museum. Chess pieces, playing pieces et. On the 10th March 2011, we went to see these artefacts ourselves.Looking back at where games would have probably originated can be of great importance to a games designer who may not only be looking for ideas and inspiration but who desires to look back at conventions that are common in gaming now that were invented years back.
Looking at game pieces or, for example the game of Ur, how the player interacts with the game boards to achieve a goal.

Above are a set of chess pieces called 'The Lewis Chessmen. They were made in Norway and now on display in the British Museum. Made of Walrus Ivory and Whales Teeth, the chessmen are a good example of what early gaming pieces would have looked like, with their intricately carved out Kings, Queens, Bishops, Rooks, Knights, and Pawns.



Although not picture particularly well, to the bottom right of the large white pot is a set of gaming spheres. They were dug up in Welwyn Garden City, where they date back to between 55 BC to 45 AD. The pieces are made from glass and were buried with one of the wealthy leaders of one of the local tribes. There are 24 pieces in total and more than likely would have originally been part of a board game, speculation over what sort of game however the varying colours suggested that this was a racing game.

There are so many interesting pieces in the British museum, it would take more than one single day trip to view everything, all I can suggest is to go for yourself and see what you can find. All the pictures and knowledge I have taken away, I hope will help me in future games designing. The British museum trip will help me to not forget where the industry originated.

Ross, Out.