The history of Japanese game sugoroku in the context of development of Asian strategic board games

The article considers the history of development of Asian strategic board games. Special attention is paid to the Japanese game sugoroku and its Chinese prototypes liubo and shuanglu. Different types of the sugoroku game as well as its accessories such as boards, dices, and figures are analyzed in the historical aspect. The study of strategic board games is important not only from the standpoint of culture and art, but also from the standpoint of the historical development of human mentality that is closely associated with ritual and fortune telling practice. The analysis of traditional games yields interesting material to examine social problems of modern economically developed countries with rapidly aging population where leisure and amusements become one of the significant factors to integrate all generations.