The Lost Sport

By deep study of the Codex of the Lost Ring, we hope to gather insight into the mystery and vasty significance of the The Lost Sport of Olympia. We seek further guidance from Ariadne, who says of herself: "I woke up in a Labyrinth of Feb. 12. They call me Ariadne." Ariadne, should you consult the Wikipedia deeply enough, also refers to: "Ariadne's thread, named for the legend of Ariadne, is the term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding - such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle, or an ethical dilemma - through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes." Ah. Ariadne's thread.

The mystery deepens and at the same time widens. What actually is the Lost Sport? Where is Olympia? Who lost it in the first place?

Perhaps we can deepen our understanding by reading an article titled: 'The Lost Ring' ARG players discover 'lost' Canadian sport.

ARG, don't you know, stands for Alternate Reality Game. Ah, so we are not speaking of an actual Lost Sport of Olympia, but something of a fantasy, something perhaps made up?

Perhaps in deed. But, reality-wise, the reality to which the alternate reality is an alternate, what we actually have is a quite fun game, which, as my colleague, covisionary and general friend Celia Pearce is quick to point out, is very much in the spirit of New Games of yore and ours. See, for example, this.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

New Tic Tac Toe

New Tic Tac Toe was published in 1977, under the auspices of Herb Kohl. It was very exciting to me to be even remotely associated with Herb Kohl, and I was honored in extremis when he asked if I could write something for him that he could publish and distribute through his Center for Open Learning and Teaching. Herb, for gosh-sake Kohl! So honored that I didn't really actually totally mind that someone misspelled my name ("Big K in DeKoven," I told 'em, Big D, small e, Big K, small oven." But did they listen?).

This was in 1977. 31 years ago, comparatively speaking. I only recently found a copy of it in my "trophy file" along with magazines that published articles of mine and newspapers and stuff that I've been keeping for historical reasons beyond my ken. I was about to consign it to eternity (e.g. recycling), when I thought to read it again, and, by golly, I kind of liked it. I think I was almost able to understand what Herb had seen in it and me all those many years ago. So I scanned it and uploaded it.

If you want, you can download a pdf file of the scanned booklet, here


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Hard Fun, Easy Fun, Visceral Fun, Social Fun

In his wonderful presentation on the Core of Fun, Ralph Koster identifies four more kinds of fun:

"Games," Koster conjectures, "mostly focus on hard fun."

I, of course, think of "hard fun" in terms of "flow, complexity and the 'slanty line'," and social fun in terms of "coliberation." Nevertheless, these are in deed 4 more flavors of fun to behold, enjoy, and plant into our many-flavored garden of conceptual joy.

See also Koster's "Theory of Fun." And perhaps this, from one game company that claims to put the theory into practice.



via Craig Conley

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Pachisi & Ludo

When I introduce students to the art of game design, I seem to always start with a relatively intense focus on "game-modding" - taking a classic game of some very familiar kind and modifying it, somehow, into something that is new, different, something inviting a different kind of game experience. This site about the sister games of Pachisi & Ludo gives us a near perfect starting point.

Here you will find the history of Pachisi as well as of more than 6 related games, and lists with images of commercial and other computer implementations - enough to inspire you to new heights of Ludo-craft, as well as to give you a much stronger understanding of an entire genre of game structures.

Also, it's a lot of fun.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith