I like games and play – who wouldn’t? So, I was very excited that we would get time in class to play. However, as I reflected on the events of the day and our readings, my excitement has turned to disappointment. Relating the day’s events to Huizinga has led me to realize we did not play. Huizinga (Huizinga, p. 102) states: “First and foremost, then, all play is a voluntary activity.” Further, he also states “It is never a task. It is done as leisure during ‘free time’” (Huizinga, p. 103). And last but not least, he also states (Huizinga, p. 107) that “It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it.” This afternoon was work! I was bamboozled! And the work carries forward with this reflection.

The first game that my group played[1]was titled “Pandemic.” We were like tourists, visiting a new world for the first time, not yet aware of the customs – strangers in a strange land. We didn’t know value of the currency, customs, or even the language. To help gain some familiarity we read the guidebook. Also, we were lucky that one of the members of our group had been to this world before, but it had been a long time since he had visited. Caillois notes (Caillois, p.125) “The confused and intricate laws of ordinary life are replaced, in this fixed space and for this given time, by precise, arbitrary, unexceptional rules that must be accepted as such and that govern the correct playing of the game” – notice that he doesn’t claim that the new rules are simple. The “confused and intricate” laws are replaced, but perhaps only by slightly less confused and slightly less intricate? I suspect that by playing additional rounds of the game, we would have caught on further to the rules and become more immersed in the game. In wandering around this new world, we were more focused on not getting lost and making sure that we didn’t offend the locals. Perhaps on the next trip, we can become more fully immersed in the world – its values, its celebrations and its challenges.

Play was also important as a “social function” (Huizinga. 99), helping us get to know one another a bit (again, as a tourist). Ideally, this is the beginning of a longer social relationship as “A play-community generally tends to become permanent even after the game is over.” (Huizinga, p. 106). With such a large group in the class, the games provided a way for us to get to know one another – even if we were on our best behaviour as tourists.

And wrapping up reflecting on Pandemic, I’m not sure how I would fit it into Caillois classification system. Pandemic is a co-op game. All the players work together to win – perhaps we are competing against the game? There are cards used, so there is some aspect of chance. And there is also an aspect of role playing as each player is given a role card with specific capabilities.

The other game we attempted to play was Sagrada. In contrast to Pandemic, we only made it through part of the set up. We didn’t have enough time to learn and play the game. However, our patience with the game was running out nearly as quickly as the time to play. Neither Callois nor Huizinga talk about “flow”, but references to absorption, diversion, escape speak to the story of the world and how the games draws in the players. Sagrada came across as a mess of pieces, cards and language. We were a long way away from being absorbed into the world.

[1]Note that in the rest of the reflection, I will, inaccurately, refer to “playing” games. We were working, but it doesn’t sound right to say we “worked” games.