We played another game—years ahead of its time, where seven ancient cultural groups of the Mediterranean—Assyrians, Babylonians, Illyrians, Cretans, and their ilk—evolve from the Stone Age into the Late Classical and beyond. We didn’t know it, but that game was an advance scout for the renaissance about to hurtle the whole pastime of board gaming into the modern era. It checked all our boxes: no luck, open information, multiple paths to victory, and incentives for creative play—a game more about the ride than the arrival.
