Books: The Book of Classic Board Games

It's rare that I describe a book as "charming," but "The Book of Classic Board Games" certainly merits that description. Published by Klutz (you know, that Scholastic Press imprint that makes all those kids' books that come with stuff attached to them), it's filled to the brim with colorful and often endearing illustrations. The concept? The "board" of each game is printed as a separate page in the book. There are entertaining board games from all different time periods and different cultures which, when you think about it, really says something about us as a species.

I've played many games of checkers and backgammon using the book, and there's even a decent explanation of the rules of that all-time popular strategy game, Go. Some of the graphics pop right off the pages - check out the neat clay sculpting used for the board of "The Dalmatian Pirates and the Volga Bulgars" (a version of Fox and Geese):

The only flaw of the package might be the flimsy plastic zipper case that holds all the playing pieces with the book. It'll probably tear after extended use, but it's a small price to pay for such a fun collection.