The Mystical Origins of Modern Games

"A game is a bounded, specific way of problem solving. Play is more cosmic an open-ended. Gods play, but man unfortunately is a gaming individual." --- David Graeber, The Utopia of Rules

It may surprise you to know that games and gambling have mystical origins rooted in early cultures' attempts to predict the future, to appeal to the gods, and to discover hidden aspects of reality. Fortune tellers threw knucklebones, shot arrows, and dealt cards as a way to uncover the hidden forces shaping our lives. The modern components of board games evolved from these early practices and artifacts.

The earliest examples of dice and playing cards were tools of divination. They represented the power and capriciousness of nature, and they fulfilled a deeply human need to make sense of the unsettling randomness of life. Before dice and cards were childrens' toys, they were predictive tools of one's fate.

Going from divination to gambling was a short leap, as people ascribed random events to divine will. If a good harvest can be predicted by casting knucklebones, then one's immediate fortune could be made by betting on specific outcomes such as a die's facing, or a sequence of cards. Both the harvest and the winning hand were products of "Fortuna's wheel."

FROM KNUCKLEBONES TO DICE

Knucklebones, the precursors of modern dice, appear throughout the world as tools of divination. How they land when they're "cast"-- their arrangements as well as their facing-- revealed the future. Each side of a knucklebone is a little different. They often have four long sides and two shorter ones. The longer sides are either concave or convex, indented or flat, while the corners are founded or pointed preventing them from standing on end. This complex shape enabled complexity and interpretation to each roll.

In antiquity young unmarried women who cast knuckelbones entrusted their fate to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Young nubile Greek women were often referred to as philastragalai, i.e. “lovers of knucklebones.” A perfect throw in which each knucklebone landed on a different side was called an "Aphrodite throw." Children played with knucklebones much like the modern game of Jacks, where the object is to catch as many pieces tossed into the air with one hand as possible. Men tossed four knucklebones on a surface, calculating which sides landed face down. Ultimately numbers were inscribed on the irregular surface to keep track of the numerical value of each side, which is where our modern day pips come from.¹

Each variation of a knucklebone/ dice game reflected different social hierarchies, age groups, and classes until eventually the type of dice game you played reflected your social standing, much like the cultural resonances we associate today with players of craps, ceelo, and jacks.

Archeologists believe games associated with knucklebones originated in Egypt or Lydia, subsequently spreading throughout Greek and Roman antiquity. Abundant archeological evidence shows It was among the first "viral" games, spreading like wildfire among all classes and ages of people, and frequently depicted in works of art, often in alligorical themes such as "dicing with fate." Eventually primitive knucklebones where refined and stylized and manufactured into smoother and more regular shapes, becoming the objects of stochastic fascination we know today. The 20-sided polyhedral die we see below is familiar to any player of modern Dungeons & Dragons, but were found in ancient Egyptian archeological sites from the Ptolomaic period.

FROM ARROW TO TAROT

Shooting arrows and interpreting where they land was a common divinatory practice throughout Europe and Asia. The earliest legends of Robin Hood included shooting an arrow to divine where the hero would be buried. Arrows were "cast" and where they landed determined where churches would be built, as local lore described how the Cathedral of Drum in Salisbury, England was built in 1219. Eventually, divinatory arrows evolved into long cards in Korea, which in turn spread to China, where playing cards as we now know them emerged.

"[Stewart Culin] noted that traditional Korean playing cards, which are narrow strips rather than the broad rectangles commonly used in most of the world, bear a picture of an arrow on their backs, a relic of ancient divination. Culin believed that the Korean 'cards' were the origin of Chinese playing cards, whose patterns reproduce those of ancient paper money." ²

In pre-Islamic Arabia, seven arrows were used for divination in specific sacred places, as well as for profane gambling in the game Maysar. Where and how the arrows landed could determine your fate as well as your winnings. The popularity of Maysar is evident in Islam's later prohibition against gambling, which is seen as trivializing divine power.

At some point these tools of divination were used for more prosaic purposes while maintaining their mystical nature. Early playing cards were hand-painted, sometimes gilded, and depicted categories of experience such as lunar cycles, heavenly spheres, and spiritual hierarchies. According to Simon Wintle,

*"Playing cards have always served two distinct purposes: gambling, and the playing of games of skill. Their introduction provided a new alternative to dice and knuckle bones. Evidently both kinds of game existed in Europe since the first introduction of playing cards. Prohibitions of card playing and denunciations by preachers demonstrate their widespread use for gambling. However, instances of playing cards being used for games of skill are also recorded, as well as instances of moralising, allegory and representations of the social hierarchy." *

Playing cards have always served two distinct purposes: gambling, and the playing of games of skill. Their introduction provided a new alternative to dice and knuckle bones. Evidently both kinds of game existed in Europe since the first introduction of playing cards. Prohibitions of card playing and denunciations by preachers demonstrate their widespread use for gambling. However, instances of playing cards being used for games of skill are also recorded, as well as instances of moralising, allegory and representations of the social hierarchy." ³

European references to playing cards date from the 1370's from Catalonia, Florence, Sienna, and Germany. Although none survive, we know from other accounts that they were luxury items, richly illuminated "in gold and various colors" similar to the fine manuscripts circulating at that time. Much of the earliest decks borrowed from Islamic themes, reflecting Spain's Moorish culture. Eventually as demand grew, cheaper to produce woodcut and paper card decks appeared as these games grew in popularity.

Further reading:

Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards

The World of Playing Cards

LEFTOVERS