The Elliot Avedon Museum and Archive of Games

Many of the best of the "New Games" have their roots in the old. The more accurate the research that I can uncover about the way old games were played, the more valuable they become to me in envisioning the future of play.

One resource that proved invaluable to me, 35 years ago when I was developing a curriculum in games for the School District of Philadelphia was The Study of Games by Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith. The same author, Elliot Avedon, has been building his Museum and Archive of Games since 1971. And now it is available to the rest of us, online.

You can look up games by name or by country of origin. There are also "Virtual Exhibits." One my favorites: this "Breughel Index" that finally identifies each of the games depicted in Breughel's famous painting of "Children's Games." Another, this wonderful collection of playing cards.

The study of games is richly rewarding, whether you are a game designer or player, a student of human nature, or just someone who wants to bring more fun to the world. The free, online Elliot Avedon Museum and Archive of Games is an increasingly valuable gift to all of us.