Intriguing quote by Robert McCulloch

[DrCaesar]

Years ago, I was an ardent backgammon player, and was very into the card games cassino (as well as its Italian forefather, scopa) and bezique (famously Churchill's favorite card game).

One day I bought a copy of "Professor Hoffmann's Cyclopaedia of Card and Table Games" (1891 edition) and randomly started reading the "Draughts" chapter. When I read the following quote, I was so compelled by what Robert McCulloch (who wrote the entry) said about the game that I began to buy books about it, and to study it seriously. I don't believe I've played backgammon since, actually.

Here is what he wrote:

"It is a scientific game, affording scope for the exercise of man's faculties from youth to mature age; played well, no other pastime is known so replete with hidden wonders, or possessing so harmless and increasing a fascination for those who acquire a liking for the game. Its profound intricacy is to a certain degree incomprehensible, yet its rules and first principles are so simple that almost any person, with a few days' practice and study, can gain a limited knowledge of the game."