Popular maths talks

Board games and their analysis from prehistory to today

Eastwood and District U3A, St Mary's Church, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire (01/07/2026).

Abstract:
The history of games is long and rich. As a universal activity, the origins are lost in the mists of time, though we have board games that are thousands of years old. Games such as chess, Ludo and Snakes and Ladders all have their ancient predecessors and we will trace some of these stories. This talk offers a mathematician's perspective on these developments, and explores different types of games and how we can use maths to explore gameplay.