As God contains all good things, He must also contain a sense of playfulness — a gift he has shared with Creatures other than ourselves, as witness the tricks Crows play, and the sportiveness of Squirrels, and the frolicking of Kittens.
Margaret Atwood
PUTTING ON A SHOW
June page 2 from A Time to Keep, The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, published by Macmillan, New York, 1977Czech illustrator Jiri Trnka (1912-1969) illustration for Andersen’s Fairy Tales 1969Father Tuck’s Puppet ShowCharles Hunt – Children Acting the ‘Play Scene’ from “Hamlet,” Act II, Scene ii 1863Frederick Daniel Hardy – The VolunteersJohn Burr – Little Soldier
PARTY GAMES
William Heath Robinson (English,1872-1944) – The Egg and Spoon Race
PLAYING AT THE SEASIDE
Postcard by Muriel Dawson (1897-1974)
PLAYING GROWN-UPS
Marie-Madeleine Dauphin (Franc-Brossier) 1878-1942Eastman Johnson – The Old Stage CoachFrederick Brown – Candidates for Girton 1884Harry Brooker – Children at Play
DANCING AND SINGING
Nikolaos Gyzis (Greek, 1842 – 1901)Richard Scarry’s Best Mother Goose Ever London Bridge game 1970Marie-Madeleine Dauphin (Franc-Brossier) 1878-1942
FUN AT THE FAIR
John L. Wimbush (1854 – 1914)
TABLETOP GAMES
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHESS PLAYERS AND POKER PLAYERS
Chess players are strategic, constantly planning ahead and anticipating counter moves.
Poker players can still win with a weak hand so long as they raise the stakes.
Vladimir Putin is described as a poker player by the world’s top Russian chess player living in New York.
New Yorker magazine cover July 1973 Gerhard RichterSir William Orpen (Irish, 1878-1931) The Chess PlayersGustav Wintzel’s picture ‘The Chess Players,’ (1886)Draughts illustration by Edmund DulacJessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 – May 3, 1935) CheckersAlice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Brigitte Bryan 1969Thomas Faed – A Game of Draughts
Types of board gamer: – The one who can’t bear the stress – The one who simply refuses to grasp the rules – “Competitive Colin” – The cheat – Mr/Mrs Shouty – The quiet genius – The one who tries to keep everything jolly – The one who can’t keep the dice on the bloody table
Go is a game of complex strategy that exists in a closed system, much like the game of chess. The difference is that Go has many more possible paths of play and is consequently more complex than chess. In the narrative of the film, Thrombey’s genius is the genius of a master strategist. This is how he writes his novels, with their perfect internal structure, and this is how he masters his family, and maintains careful control over their machinations, including the ones they try to keep secret from him. Nobody can best Harlan at life because nobody can best Harlan at Go. In fact, Harlan is rather convinced that nobody can best him even in death. When presented with the inevitability of his death and the potential consequences for Marta, Harlan almost instantly constructs a complex plan that will, he believes, protect his friend.
Our Jolly Holidays Put-together Book story by M. Helena Crofts pictures by Helen E. Ohrenschall 1928Winslow HomerJohan Mengels CulverhouseWinslow HomerLady Cricketers – A Good Catch 1889The English Lady Cricketers – Miss Stanley BattingMarie-Madeleine Dauphin (Franc-Brossier) 1878-1942 badmintonThe Tabby-Fur Family written by Tracey May, illustrated by Hilda Boswell, published by R. A. Publishing Company, London, 1948
Honestly I’m not sure what’s going on here.
DIE WUNDERFAHRT (1929) Sándor BortnyikDIE WUNDERFAHRT (1929) Sándor BortnyikHarry Brooker – The Tug of WarA Christmas Dance – The Lancers 1889Members-of-a-Ladies-Hockey-Club-at-play
STRING GAMES (CAT’S CRADLE)
Kathleen Hale, Games for a wet camping holiday, ‘don’t touch the inside of the tent’ taken from her first Orlando title, A Camping Holiday 1938
FOOD GAMES
Charles West Cope – Breakfast Time, Morning Games
HIDE AND SEEK
The Little People by Garth Williams (1912-1996) c1948 an unpublished illustration for Housekeeping Magazine1952 Children’s Book Hide-Away Puppy Rand McNallyEdna EickeMarie-Madeleine FRENCH NOHAINHIDE AND SEEK PICTURES -1944 Samuel Lowe Busy Bee BookHairy Maclary and Zachary Quack playing Hide and SeekComing Ready Or not by Lolita Séchan, Camille Jourdy
SKIPPING
Marie-Madeleine FRENCH NOHAIN skipping rope
Header illustration: Sports Day Illustration Racey Helps (1913-1970)