A Gamut of Games is an innovative book of games written by
Sid Sackson and first published in 1969.[1] It contains rules for a large number of
paper and pencil,
card, and
boardgames. Many of the games in the book had never before been published. It is considered by many hobbyist gamers 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,
Property and Origins of World War I;
Robert Abbott expanded his game
Crossings, published here, into the more-refined title
Epaminondas. Many of the games covered in the book were creations of Sid Sackson himself, who was a prolific game designer.
Book sections
The sections of the book and the games covered therein are as follows:
In Search of Big and Little Games
Blue and Gray, a board game by Henry Busch and Arthur Jaeger
Hekaton, a card game originally published along with "Yankee Notion Cards" from the 19th century
Skedoodle, a pencil-and-paper game by Father Daniel
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
Those Protean Pieces of Pasteboard
All of the games in this section use a standard pack of cards.