'The best book on games I've read in years' G.T. KARBER the number one Sunday Times
bestselling author of MURDLE 'Clare is a fabulous tour guide through the history of table
games' Tom Brewster presenter of Shut Up & Sit Down Why is playing games a universal human
instinct? Why did the same games evolve across wildly different civilisations? And how can
those games make your life happier healthier and more fulfilled? The history of board games
is really the history of human civilisation. Through it we see how our species has learned to
live with one another make deals take on different roles and manage the ups and downs of
luck. In this entertaining and thought-provoking look at games through the ages Tim Clare
explores the legal highs of a good dice roll the thrills of a predatory race game and the
tactile pleasures of the games that age with us through our lives to discover how through play
we become fully ourselves. Drawing on Roman anti-cheating devices organised crime card
syndicates and the combative domestic bonding ritual of Monopoly The Game Changers explains
why games are more popular now than ever and how playing them helps us learn to be better
losers make smarter decisions and become more human.
