How games changed history

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From Chess and Go, to Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly and the ancient Egyptian game of Senet, people have long had a fascination with games. But according to author and academic Kelly Clancy, these games have not only provided people with entertainment (and sparked family arguments), they've also shaped warfare, philosophy and social interactions for several millennia. In today's episode, Ellie Cawthorne speaks to Kelly to find out more. (Ad) Kelly Clancy is the author of Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World (Riverhead Books, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPlaying-Reality-Games-Shaped-World%2Fdp%2F0593538188. Listen to our conversation with Professor Irving Finkel on ancient Mesopotamian ghosts here: https://link.chtbl.com/4Zb4_V7h The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you a keen history buff or maybe just a curious mind?
0:03.6	Well either way we have you covered with a History Extra membership.
0:07.2	Head to History Extra.com forward slash subscribe
0:10.6	to discover our latest membership offers.
0:17.0	Welcome to the History Extra Podcast,
0:20.0	fascinating historical conversations
0:22.0	from the makers of BBC History magazine.
0:27.0	From Chess and Go to Snakes and Ladders Monopoly and the ancient Egyptian game of Senate.
0:34.8	Societies have long had a fascination with games.
0:39.2	But these games have not only entertained players and sparked a few family arguments, they've also helped to shape the course of human history.
0:48.0	Well at least that's the take of Kelly Clancy, the author of a new book playing with reality. So I spoke to her to find out more.
0:57.0	It's lovely to have you on the History Extra Podcast, Kelly. Thanks for joining us.
1:02.0	To start us off, can you tell us why games have been so significant
1:08.0	through history? What have the offered societies beyond just having fun.
1:13.0	Yeah, games are this really kind of incredible system that humans and even animals have been playing and engaging with for really millions of years.
1:22.0	It goes back to obviously mammals, birds, reptiles, even insects play games.
1:28.0	So there's something really significant to something that evolution has kept around for that long.
1:34.9	And if we look back in the archaeological record, we have evidence of humans playing games for
1:40.5	maybe up to like 10,000 years and certainly longer. I mean we can imagine that people
1:44.7	were playing some kind of game much longer than that. So in that sense board games are
1:50.1	maybe older than written language. They're really important because they are a form of learning.
1:55.8	They're a way to learn how to engage with the world and learn how to engage with each other.
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