A Gamut of Games - BookWyrm

English language

Published 1992

ISBN:: 978-0-486-27347-1

(1 review)

A Gamut of Games is an innovative book of games written by Sid Sackson and first published in 1969. It contains rules for a large number of paper and pencil, card, and board games. Many of the games in the book had never before been published. It is considered by many hobbyist gamers to be an essential text for anyone interested in abstract strategy games, and a number of the rules were later expanded into full-fledged published board games. Some of the games which were later sold separately include Focus, Property and Origins of World War I; Robert Abbott expanded his game Crossings, published here, into the more-refined title Epaminondas. Many of the games covered in the book were creations of Sid Sackson himself, who was a prolific game designer.

2 editions

Martin reviewed A Gamut of Games by Sid Sackson

None

5 stars

I picked up a used copy (I don't think you can find new copies, other than maybe for Kindle) of this book recently. My copy was published in 1992, but it contained 3 prefaces: one written specifically for that edition, another for a 2nd edition from ten years before that, and a third, from the original publication, 12 years before that in 1969. Sid Saxon died in 2002, another 10 years after this edition.

I am enjoying paging through this book, and eventually, I do expect to have read it all, but like others in my collection that just list out the details of specific games, it's not really meant to be read, it's meant to be used as a reference for playing.