Are puzzles and games important?

Transcription

1 Are puzzles and games important? How long have people played with puzzles and games? Which human cultures develop and employ puzzles and games? What purpose do puzzles and games serve? Play is most evident in children. CS 32, Fall

2 Les Evans, Children s Games. Poster commissioned by Play Wales ( CS 32, Fall

3 Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Kinderspiele, oil on wood, 1560, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. CS 32, Fall

4 Abraham Teniers ( ), Tobacco Collegium of the Apes. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria Photo Credit : Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY CS 32, Fall

5 David Teniers, the Younger ( ), Monkeys Playing Cards. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia CS 32, Fall

6 Origins of Puzzles and Games Interacting with puzzles and games is a form of play, and thus fulfills a basic human need. Johan Huizinga in Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Roy Publishers, 1950) writes, Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing... Here we have at once a very important point: even in its simplest forms on the animal level, play is more than a mere physiological phenomenon or a psychological reflex. It goes beyond the confines of purely physical or purely biological activity. It is a significant function that is to say, there is some sense to it. In play there is something at play which transcends the immediate needs of life and imparts meaning to the action. All play means something. CS 32, Fall

7 The Nature of Play (Huizinga) Play is fun. (Fun is an aesthetic quality, like beauty that resists logical analysis.) Play is a voluntary activity: it expresses freedom. Play is not ordinary or real life, but has a disposition all its own. Play requires repetition. Play involves tension (uncertainty) that is resolved in solution. (This includes puzzles and solitaire games.) Play has rules. Play can build and define social communities: e.g., bridge clubs. Play is often serious. Two categories of play: 1. A contest for something, (e.g., a competitive game or puzzle), or 2. A representation of something (e.g., playing make believe, dance, or a dramatic performance) CS 32, Fall

8 The Language of Play Transcends Culture Huizinga argues that words associated with games and play are found in most (if not all) cultures. (Hence, play is universal.) Ancient Greece: the suffix -inda denotes a child s game, thus sphairinda is a ball game, helkustinda is ancient tug-of-war, streptinda is a throwing game, basilinda is king of the castle. paidia means light-hearted (or child-like) play agon describes competitive play (e.g., the Olympic games) Ancient India (Sanskrit): krīdati signifies play. divyati denotes gambling as well as joking. CS 32, Fall

9 The Language of Play Transcends Culture (cont.) Ancient China: wan denotes children s games, as well as joking. chen denotes games of skill. sai denotes a tournament. Ancient America (Blackfoot): koani means to play denotes a children s games. kachtsi means to play a game with rules, including both games of chance, and games of skill. skets or skits means to win a game. Likewise, various cultures have myths and legends that invoke play, games, and riddles. CS 32, Fall

10 Huizinga s Central Thesis Culture arises in the form of play. Real civilization cannot exist in the absence of a certain play-element, for civilization presupposes limitation and mastery of the self, the ability not to confuse its own tendencies with the ultimate and highest goal, but to understand that it is enclosed with certain bounds freely accepted. Civilization will, in a sense, always be played according to certain rules, and true civilization will always demand fair play... True play knows no propaganda; its aim is in itself, and its familiar spirit is happy inspiration. CS 32, Fall

11 Roger Caillois s Classification of Games AGÔN ALEA MIMICRY ILINX (Competition) (Chance) (Simulation) (Vertigo) PAIDIA Racing Counting-out Make believe whirling Wrestling rhymes Magic Horseback Tumult Etc. Heads or tails Tag, Arms riding Agitiation Athletics Costumes Swinging Laughter Waltzing Kite-flying Boxing, Betting Volador Solitaire Billiards Roulette Carnivals Patience Fencing Skiing Crossword Chess Simple, complex Theater Mountain puzzles Contests and continuing climbing Sports lotteries Spectacles Tightrope LUDUS in general in general walking Roger Caillois, Man, Play and Games, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, 2001 CS 32, Fall