Mission
Create a common platform for a spectrum of age groups to experience the joy of reliving our traditional games. Designing courtyard gaming areas, taking these games to companies & schools are ongoing activities of the ToyHive.
KAVADE is a niche Toy Hive in Bangalore which strives to promote traditional, value enriched learning through games without moving too far away from nature. The Toy Hive has aligned with self-help groups working with natural materials for a sustainable livelihood.
"Un gioco d'azzardo, quindi, un antenato della moderna roulette, ma come è tipico della civiltà settecentesca, anche un manufatto raffinato, un gioco-opera d'arte, grazie alle delicate figurine dipinte a tempera sulla tela, che costituiscono un compendio dell'imagerie dell'epoca. Infatti, oltre alle immagini allegoriche, come la Fortuna e la Vanità, le numerose raffigurazioni di animali, di fiori e di frutti rimandano ad un intreccio di simboli di origine antica, mentre la galleria di personaggi come il Turco, il Gentiluomo, la Dama, il Tamburino e le maschere della Commedia dell'Arte alludono a vari aspetti della cultura e della società settecentesca. La presenza dell'emblema della Repubblica [di Genova], oltre alle varie armi araldiche di famiglie aristocratiche genovesi, come i Doria e gli Spinola, attesta senza ombra di dubbio la destinazione locale del Biribis Luxoro."
"There were quiet days when Kibii and I played, all during the long afternoons, a game that took me months to learn and, having forgotten it, I could never learn again. I remember only that we used the little poisonous yellow sodom apples for counters and a series of round holes in the ground for our board, and that the mental arithmetic required was more that I have since used in twenty years. We should play it in the shade of the wattle trees, or, after finishing our work with the horses, down behind the walls of the stables, sitting cross-legged over the smooth yellow balls like diminutive practictioners of black magic, waiting for a Sign. I had a small allowance of rupees from my father and Kibii had a salary of sorts. We gambled like fiends with this largesse, but neither of us established the roots of a fortune with our winnings, though a few of the coins of the realm were worn thinner.
Markham non specifica quante file di buche usasse, ma considerando il suo sforzo matematico, il luogo (l'attuale Kenya) e l'etnia (Murani) del suo compagno di giochi potremmo con buona sicurezza pensare al Bao.
L'inarrivabile Erkki Huhtamo ricostruisce un altro frammento di pre-cinema: un movable panorama d'inizi Novecento parente (un nipote, per così dire) di quello con cui Albert Smith incantava le folle cinquant'anni prima all'Egyptian Hall di Piccadilly Circus:
Performed throughout the 1800s, moving panoramas were among the most popular entertainment of the 19th century. In this poetic lecture-demonstration, scholar and media archeologist Erkki Huhtamo draws on his research into moving panoramas and dioramas to discuss various historical apparata that laid the groundwork for 20th and 21st century immersive applications—including those created now by game designers and media artists. The particular focus of this presentation will be on the Maréorama, a huge multi-sensory spectacle created by Hugo d’Alesi and his team for the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris. Drawing from high-resolution scans and the original piano music composed for the Maréorama by Henri Kowalski, Huhtamo reconstructs several sequences from this simulated sea voyage on the Mediterranean. The performance features live piano accompaniment by Stephen L. I. Murphy.
NOTE 1: Dr. Huhtamo's recovered Maréorama presentations begin at 26'45'.
