From February 15 to 19, the Festival Palace transformed into a playground. Board games, simulation games, card games, mathematical games… delighted champions, enthusiasts, and casual players. During this festival, Nice-Première set out to discover games from afar such as Mah-jong and the Game of Go (China), Awalé (Africa), Shogi (Japan), and Carrom (India). Games are universal and without borders. They are part of everyone’s life, and as Maÿlis Thuret, one of the creators of the “Les Jeux sont fêtes” association, asserts, “Games are everything. Games are life.” Which man has never played a card game, checkers, dice, or Monopoly, for example? And if games cross borders without a passport or visa, they also travel through time without aging, as we saw during the recreational exhibition “20 years of Festival! Games are celebrations!”
This exhibition, created by Catherine Watine and Maÿlis Thuret, the founders of the “Les jeux sont Fêtes” association, allowed the public to immerse themselves in the world of games of yesterday and today. “An unusual journey where ancient and contemporary games project into the future by reviving the past.” Nice-Première entered this colorful playful labyrinth:
– Mind games, knowledge games, and atmosphere games: Already in the 17th century, one could play games to guess and know a person’s character and feelings with “The White Elephant” by Saussine, which worked through a magnetic system. During this exhibition, we even met the ancestor of “Trivial Pursuit” (1979) that dates back to the 19th century. The famous bingo was also presented in all its forms (picture bingo (1900), bingo of proverbs, etc.), and it is in Italy in the 18th century that this game of chance took on the form we all know. Crossword puzzles are of English origin and date from 1913. The invasion of these games is not about to die out.
– Dice: Their first appearance dates back to 2300 BC. They were bone cubes. Today, there are all kinds of dice: the Toton is a die pierced by a needle that can be spun like a top, “Loaded ivory dice” where one face of the die is removable, “Pig dice,” Indian Pachisi dice, dancing dice, round dice, knucklebones, Cowrie shells, etc.
– Strategy games: Four major families of strategy games make up the typology of this type of game:
– Combat strategy games where the objective is the capture of the opponent’s pieces.
– Arrangement strategy games where the objective is to create alignments or configurations of pieces.
– Hunting strategy games where the objective is to immobilize the opponent’s pieces and to maximize captures.
– Path strategy games where the objective is to move pieces toward a goal.
– Mancalas: A new family of sowing and harvesting games: Awalé (Africa), Solo, Mankala (Malaysia), Wari, Palankuli (India).
– Skill games: For some, they evoke fairgrounds, for others, everyday play when city dwellers and villagers gather under the plane trees. Examples include shooting games, fishing games, bowling games whose existence dates back to the 14th century, the highly popular game of boules in the south of France, the “pass-boules” true works of art where illustration gives way to imagination, observation, and whimsicality.
– Board games, track and simulation games: From “Little Horses” to “Monopoly,” from “Tutankhamun” to “Game of the Freebooters” (1945), a single die roll can set you off on a journey, conquer countries, or empty your wallet to become richer. The game invites us into another world of allowable excesses. During this festival, we discovered the last game awarded by the festival jury at the Golden Aces, and we assure you that “Deluxe Camping” gives us a taste of vacation.
– Marbles: Ah, marbles! A reminiscence of our childhood, where in the playground we played to win those exceptionally colored ones, instead of the stones, seeds, fruit pits used by our ancestors.
– Playing cards: Essential for a good evening! The advantage is that they are portable and can be played anywhere, although it’s best to avoid playing when it’s windy! At home, on the beach, at the office, at school… With friends or family, as many card games as there are to satisfy everyone’s pleasure: tarot games, Japanese cards, Nepalese cards, belote, contradance.
During these five days, the “Games in Celebration” association “brought the game out of the museum and elevated the ancient not in a spirit of memory but in a spirit of dream,” as Maÿlis Thuret, this passionate player and collector who has kept her childlike gaze, highlighted to us. And when we asked her what she thought of video games, she replied: “Cards have replaced the dice. The game evolves in its forms but not in its mechanics. Videogames are not a vector of constraint. The current game is very beautiful.”
It is clear: the game still has a long future ahead for the happiness of both young and old!
