A Gamut of Games
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'''''A Gamut of Games''''', written by [[Sid Sackson]] and first published in [[1969]], contains rules for a large number of [[paper and pencil game|paper and pencil]], [[card game|card]], and [[board games|board]] [[game|games]]. Many of the games in the book had never before been published. It is considered by many 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 (board game)|Focus]], [[Property (game)|Property]] and Origins of WWI; [[Robert Abbott]] expanded his game [[Crossings (game)|Crossings]], published here, into the more-refined title [[Epaminondas (game)|Epaminondas]]. Many of the games covered in the book were creations of Sid Sackson himself, who was a prolific game designer.
The sections of the book and the games covered therein are as follows:
;In Search of Big and Little Game
*''[[Mate (game)|Mate]]'', a card game by G. Capellen
*''[[Blue and Gray (game)|Blue and Gray]]'', a board game by Henry Busch and Arthur Jaeger
*''[[Le Truc (game)|Le Truc]]'', a revived French card game
*''[[Plank (game)|Plank]]'', a serious revamp of the concepts in Tic-Tac-Toe
* Zetema, a Victorian card game similar to [[Bezique]]
*''[[Hekaton (game)|Hekaton]]'', a card game originally published along with "Yankee Notion Cards" from the 19th century
;Game Inventors Are People Too
*''[[Lines of Action]]'', a board game by Claude Soucie
*''[[Cups (game)|Cups]]'', a mancala variant by Arthur and Wald Amberstone
*''[[Crossings (game)|Crossings]]'', a board game by Robert Abbot; later turned into [[Epaminondas (game)|Epaminondas]] by Abbot
*''[[Lap (game)|Lap]]'', a complex progeny of [[Battleships]] by Lech Pijanowski
*''[[Three Musketeers (game)|Three Musketeers]]'', a board game by Haar Hoolim; notably, this game and the character in it was once used as the mascot for the [[Zillions of Games]] software product.
*''[[Paks (game)|Paks]]'', a card game by Phil Laurence
*''[[Skedoodle]]'', a pencil-and-paper game by Father Daniel
*''[[Knight Chase]]'', a board game by Alex Randolph (inventor of games like [[TwixT]])
*''[[Origins of World War I (game)|Origins of World War I]]'', a historical pencil-and-paper game by James Dunnigan which teaches players history
'''Those Protean Pieces of Pasteboard''' - All of the games in this section use a standard pack of cards.
*''[[All My Diamonds]]'', an auctioning game by Sid Sackson
*''[[Osmosis (game)|Osmosis]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Patterns (game)|Patterns]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Suit Yourself (game)|Suit Yourself]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Bowling Solitaire]]'', a one-player game by Sid Sackson
*''[[Card Baseball]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Slam (game)|Slam]]'', a two-handed takeoff of [[Contract bridge|Bridge]] by Sid Sackson
*''[[Poke (game)|Poke]]'', a two-handed version of [[Poker]] by Sid Sackson
*''[[Color Gin]]'', a two-handed modification of [[Hollywood Gin]] by Sid Sackson
'''New Battles on an Old Battlefield''' - All of the games in this section use a checkerboard.
*''[[Focus (board game)|Focus]]'', by Sid Sackson; this game was later sold commercially
*''[[Network (board game)|Network]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Take it Away (game)|Take It Away]]'', by Sid Sackson
'''Grab a Pencil''' - All of the games in this section are meant to be played with pencil and paper.
*''[[Hold That Line (game)|Hold That Line]]'', by Sid Sackson; an attempt to move "boredom" games away from [[Tic-tac-toe|Tic-Tac-Toe]]
*''[[Cutting Corners (game)|Cutting Corners]]'', by Sid Sackson; another attempt at a "boredom" game
*''[[Paper Boxing]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Last Word (game)|Last Word]]'', a paper-based [[Scrabble]]-esque game by Sid Sackson
*''[[Patterns II (game)|Patterns II]]'', an inductive-reasoning game by Sid Sackson; see [[Eleusis (game)|Eleusis]] for another game in this small genre
*''[[Property (game)|Property]]'', later republished as New York, by Sid Sackson
;A Miscellany of Games
*''[[Solitaire Dice]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Domino Bead Game]]'', by Sid Sackson
*''[[Haggle (game)|Haggle]]'', a deliciously confusing party game by Sid Sackson
*''[[The No Game]]'', a classic and simple party game
*''[[Change Change (game)|Change Change]]'', a simple solitaire utilizing coins by Sid Sackson
A second edition of the book was published in [[1982]]; [[Dover Publications]] released an unabridged reprint, with an additional preface by Sackson, in [[1992]].
== References ==
*Sackson, Sid. ''A Gamut of Games''. ISBN 0-486-27347-4
[[Category:1969 books|Gamut of Games, A]]
[[Category:Books about board games|Gamut of Games, A]]
[[eo:A Gamut Of Games]]