Machine learning is about to revolutionize the study of ancient games

In 1238, the medieval Spanish ruler Alfonso X of Castile published a tome called Libro de los Juegos, or The Book of Games. It consisted of 97 parchment pages, many with beautiful color illustrations, and contains the earliest descriptions of games such as chess, dice, and backgammon. Alfonso went on to classify games into three categories: games that are played on horseback, games played dismounted (such as fencing and wrestling), and games played seated. He divided this third category even further into games that rely on the brain, games of chance, and games that rely on both. In making these distinctions, Alfonso is the unofficial founder of a field of science known as ludology--the study of games, which has attracted much interest among mathematicians, computer scientists, sociologists, and others.