Seven Main Games in Human History: Checkers, Chess, Go, Backgammon, Scrabble, Poker, Bridge

The book discusses seven games: checkers, whose perception as a children's game veils their captivating depth; chess - a classic and widely spread military-strategic game; go - a refined and complex eastern game of encirclement; backgammon - the best and... most ruthless game using dice; poker - the most popular card game in our age; scrabble - a classic word game; bridge - the pinnacle of strategic card games. Each of them has its own unique character. The author seeks answers to two key questions: "What is a game?" and "Why do we play?". He describes the history of the emergence of games, tells about outstanding players and specific matches, and shows how the advent of computers has changed the nature of the game.