Falkener's "Games Ancient and Oriental" is one of the great classics in books about games, and although it was written some 60 odd years ago, it is still considered the definitive source for many of the games it covers. Mr. Falkener, who was a prominent classical scholar, had as his hobby the reconstruction of ancient board games and the recording of living board games not known in the Western World. He devoted much of his life to close study of Egyptian tomb inscriptions, Roman archeology, and to travel in the Orient and Africa, and played many games with native experts.