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Antsy to Gancy - A Board Game Podcast

A History of Roll and Write Games

For this inaugural episode, your host Jaina brings you back in time to learn about the history of dice, and how we got from flipping sticks as dice to the first modern roll and write games. Listen in for a short and sweet tour through time from around 2500 BCE through to the 1970s, and make sure to tune in on September 22 to continue the journey through to some of today's most popular games!


Credits

Intro and Outro Music: Comedy Detective by Onoychenko Music via Pixabay

Time machine sound effect: Sci Fi Disappearance by Pixabay


Sources (in order of appearance/use in episode)

Board Game Geek (Roll and Write: Mechanisms, accessed on July 30, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/41222/mechanism-roll-and-write/linkeditems/boardgamefamily?pageid=35&sort=yearpublished


Parlett's History of Board Games (The Updated Edition of The Oxford History of Board Games) by David Parlett (history of dice, pgs. 21-28)


The Complete Book of Games by Clement Wood and Gloria Goddard via Wikipedia (Yacht description and rules, accessed September 2, 2023): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_(dice_game)


Luck (1943 box of games via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40249/luck


Guffy (1952 game via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283757/guffy


Thread on Guffy copyright and trademark infringement and personal correspondence (via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/608254/game-called-guffy-yahtzee-copyrighted-1952


The Yahtzee Manifesto (history and development of Yahtzee, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://www.yahtzeemanifesto.com/History/yahtzee-history.php#ancient


Spare Time Bowling (1940 game via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4165/spare-time-bowling


6 Steps (1965 game via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35564/6-steps


The Great Races (1974 game via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43144/great-races


Can't Stop (1980 game via Board Game Geek, accessed on September 2, 2023): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41/cant-stop

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