A BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVINATORY GAMES
Games have been used as divination tools. One of the earliest such examples is what is now known as ‘the Royal Game of Ur’ or ‘the Game of Twenty Squares.’ The oldest existing board, which dates from around 2600 BCE, was found in a royal cemetery, which accounts for the name. According to Wikipedia, “At the height of its popularity, the game acquired spiritual significance, and events in the game were believed to reflect a player’s future and to convey messages from deities or other supernatural beings.”
The ancient Egyptian game of Senet, believed to have depicted the journey of the ka or ‘vital spark’ to the afterlife, may also have been regarded as a divinatory game. Given that the idea behind the game was the soul’s passage to the underworld, the idea that it possibly reflected reality may certainly have crossed the ancient Egyptian’s minds from time to time. And indeed, two-sided game boards have been found, with Twenty Squares on one side, and Senet on the other. And then there have been a whole passel of board games from Europe and Asia, such as Fidchell and Pachisi, which may at one time have been considered divinatory in nature.
Divination-by-game I would classify as a sub-section of the category I term Artomancy, since artomancy could be defined as divination by phenomena in one’s everyday environment. The aim behind using games as a divination tool appears to be obtaining an answer to only one basic question: Who do The Gods favor as Their selection in this instance? Who do The Gods wish to be appointed to the position? Who should be the next king or chieftain? Who do The Gods wish to be allotted the treasure or inheritance? Who do The Gods wish to make the sacrifice to Them? Whom do The Gods wish to be the sacrifice to Them?
This last question sounds horrible, but the ancient Mayans had a game, similar to basketball, designed to answer that very (grisly) question. Prisoners of war were formed into two teams, taught the rules of the game and trained in play, then set to play a match. The losing team was sacrificed to The Gods. A grim, but classic example of game-as-divination and how seriously societies of old took divination-by-game.
