Around the world, people are consistently enchanted by checkers, backgammon, chess, Go, poker, Scrabble, and bridge. Why? Here Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces illustrious competitors, like the minister who lost only three games of checkers in 40 years; Shusai, the last Go champion of imperial Japan; and an IBM engineer who created a revolutionary backgammon program, while also exploring how AI is changing the nature of game-playing.