Nostalgia: Dicing with Death

In 1957, Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman produced a movie called The Seventh Seal. The black and white movie is mostly resigned to obscurity, but there is one scene that is unwittingly very famous. The persona of death approaches a man called Antonius Block on the beach who challenges him to a game of chess. After a long duel, Death prevails, and announces Block's time is up.

Most of the games I've played over the years have involved some sort of chess, whether it be large scale military warfare or one on one street fighting. It is an interesting phenomenon, this drive to test our physical and mental strength on a battlefield; and I put it largely down to our desire to do things in a virtual world that we wouldn't dare to in real life, combined with our natural Darwinian instincts. However, in this instance, Death stands aside, and welcomes those who fall at the hands of the victor, in the form of a game over message.

My second nostalgic gaming experience involves the ancient computer game Battleground: Antietam, a basic electronic board game about one of the bloodiest battles of the Amerian civil war, fought in 1862. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a military history buff; and here's why. My dad used to show me the advanced maneuvers, while explaining some of the history and logic behind the conflict itself. The game itself is horrendously complicated, even now, but it was the first game that introduced to me to strategy in all its tactical glory. Don't get me wrong; war is a disgrace and a blight upon our species, but there is a certain unique spark to be found in this type of game, and indeed the industry has latched onto it. Some may think gaming warfare is a bitter attempt to create revenue out of hell itself, but I'm not here to judge. I'll leave that one to Death himself...