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2.1 Comprehension

Read the text. Then do tasks a and b.

People still love playing board games so much – here is a short history of it


It's estimated that there are more than 140,000 board games in the world today, with 3,500

created every year. From simple dice rolling and luck-based games like Snakes and Ladders

to classics such as Monopoly and more complex modern games like the settlement-building

challenge of Catan, there is something for everyone. But how did it all start?


The first ever documented board game was Senet which was about the afterlife. Originating

between 3,500 BC and 3,100 BC, Senet was played on an ivory board 10 squares long and

three squares wide. The game was played by the wealthy in Egyptian society and the board

was considered a status symbol, one that was important enough to be buried with the owner.

The rules of Senet have been pieced together by historians who see the object of it as players

trying to get their pieces across the opposing side, perhaps even with a river boundary to

mark safe territory. It has been suggested that the journey of the pieces could have a ritualistic

significance, replicating a journey to or through the afterlife, so trying to get to paradise or

trying to release the soul.


Thought to have been in existence for almost as long as Senet, Mancala (derived from

‘naqala’, the Arabic for 'to move') was created in East Africa before travelling to Europe and

then to the Americas via the slave trade. Both players of Mancala start with a little bag

containing seeds. The seeds are placed one by one on a board, with the aim to capture your

opponent’s seeds.


Originally called Chaturanga, chess was created in India in the 6th century before spreading

to Persia, the Arab world, the Far East and eventually to Europe in the late medieval period.

If you look at the way a chessboard is set up and study the pieces and how they are used,

you will realize that chess is a miniature history of medieval times. The knight on a chessboard

represents the professional soldier of medieval times, whose job it was to protect persons of

rank.


The first mass produced board game, Game of the Goose, dates back to the 16th century. It

is a simple dice 'roll and move' game for children, very similar to Snakes and Ladders.

However, Snakes and Ladders has a much longer history than Game of the Goose. It

originated in Ancient India and was used by adults to teach children about good and evil. The

ladders symbolised reward for good deeds and snakes were there to drag you down for bad

acts.


There are numerous board games that are purely based on luck but there are plenty that

exercise our brainpower too. Classics of this genre include the military domination game of

Catan. Another example is Splendor, a card-based board game established in 2014. Reiner

Knizia, inventor of strategic games believes that people want instant engagement, and one of

the ways of doing that is to make board games co-operative. One such example is Reiner

Knizia's Lord of the Rings game from the year 2000. Based on novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, the

players of the game, like the characters in the book, have to work together to overcome

challenges.


Ultimately, of course, the best game – like the best book – is a question of taste.

a)

Match the sentence parts. Use the table below. There are more options than you need.

1

Senet was a board game that

2

For rich Egyptians Senet was so important that

3

Naqala, the Arabic word for ‘to move’ is the word that

4

Catching the enemy’s seeds means that

5

The knight in chess acts like a guard that

A

they used it to teach about good and bad.

B

is placed one by one on a board.

C

they laid it into the owner’s grave.

D

was about life after death.

E

was played on a wooden board.

F

was used for creating the name of the game Mancala.

G

was used to defend important people.

H

you win the game Mancala.

1

2

3

4

5

05 BE

b)

Fill in the missing information according to the text.

game

kind of board game

benefit for players

Snakes and Ladders

Splendor

  • exercise brainpower

Lord of the Rings

05 BE

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