All-Time Games Around 40 games from different eras and corners of the world are being showcased today, Saturday, at an exhibition in the Galerie S:t Petri in Lund. The exhibition is organized by the Swedish Game Research Institute in Lund, an association formed about a year ago by five guys from Lund. Saturday will be the only day of the exhibition. — We research the cultural impact of games and their social significance, explains Dan Glimne from the game research institute. Among the exhibits is the game "Xyrixa," a modern variant of traditional chess. It is a three-dimensional game that exists in only four copies worldwide. — We are also displaying a copy of the world's oldest preserved chess set, the so-called Lewis pieces from the 12th century, says Dan Glimne. To acquire games for their collection, members of the game research institute travel quite a bit. Some materials are obtained through foreign newspapers and books. Games are not new in history. The British Museum in London houses the world's oldest preserved game. It is 5,000 years old and was found in the royal tomb in Ur in ancient Sumer. Chess originally comes from India in the 6th century. Archaeological records show that game boards for tic-tac-toe were carved into the cobblestones of Pompeii, and dice and glass pieces have been found in Viking graves. History can provide many examples of the significance that games and gaming have had. It is said that Axel Oxenstierna and King Christian of Denmark met over a board game to negotiate toll rights in the Öresund.
At 6 PM tonight at Galerie S:t Petri, some members of the game research institute will showcase several of the games, project slides, and share stories while answering questions about the games.