'The best book on games I've read in years' G.T. KARBER, the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of MURDLE

'Clare is a fabulous tour guide through the history of table games' Tom Brewster, presenter of Shut Up & Sit Down

Why is playing games a universal human instinct?
Why did the same games evolve across wildly different civilisations?
And how can those games make your life happier, healthier and more fulfilled?

The history of board games is really the history of human civilisation. Through it we see how our species has learned to live with one another, make deals, take on different roles and manage the ups and downs of luck.

In this entertaining and thought-provoking look at games through the ages, Tim Clare explores the legal highs of a good dice roll, the thrills of a predatory race game and the tactile pleasures of the games that age with us through our lives to discover how, through play, we become fully ourselves.

Drawing on Roman anti-cheating devices, organised crime card syndicates and the combative domestic bonding ritual of Monopoly, The Game Changers explains why games are more popular now than ever, and how playing them helps us learn to be better losers, make smarter decisions and become more human.

"A warm, enthusiastic survey of games . . . filled with personal anecdotes and almost romantic scenes of gameplay among friends and family members" - * Spectator *

"Rigorous, sceptical and jolly" - * The Times *