Oliver Roeder in New York City on Dec. 18, 2021. Between March and August 2020, people around the world watched 41.2 million hours of the latest game craze on Twitch, the online streaming service where gamers can go to watch others or stream themselves playing video games. Viewers weren’t there to watch players complete a flashy fantasy quest or cut virtual fruit like a ninja. No, it was for the online version of a centuries-old game that had become one of the pandemic’s most surprising entertainment booms, even with notoriously slow, quiet, contemplative play and rudimentary graphics: chess.
Oliver Roeder, a journalist, former writer and puzzle editor at FiveThirtyEight, and a 2020 Harvard Neiman Fellow, has seen different games experience similar “booms” and “busts” over the years—from a rise in poker’s popularity when Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker after qualifying on an online poker site, to the fervor inspired by the board game Catan in the 2000s.
In his new book, Seven Games: A Human History , which was released in January, Roeder, MS ’09, PhD ’13, breaks down the history of seven classic games that we’re all likely familiar with: checkers, backgammon, chess, poker, Scrabble, Go, and bridge. The book isn’t a manual of these games that many know by heart, but the stories of those who made, played, and mastered them.
While some of Roeder’s fondest childhood memories include playing poker with his family and finally beating his grandfather at chess, he’s more than just a lifelong games lover. He’s actually played among some of the expert players he covers in his book. While researching Seven Games , Roeder played in the World Series of Poker and the North American Scrabble Championship. He was beaten countless times by artificial intelligence programs. And he became utterly obsessed with backgammon.
The Alcalde chatted with Roeder about the ways these games have inspired such deep obsessions, how computers have changed games playing, and whether we really are in the “Golden Age of Games.” Growing up, some kids are readers, some are artists, some play sports. Were you always a games […]
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