The Book of Genesis and other allegorical origin stories of games

Abstract This essay delves into the complex interplay between the sacred and the ludic, with a particular emphasis on allegorical origin stories from various religious and mythological traditions, highlighting their portrayal of games and the concept of play. The analysis includes the Judaeo‐Christian Book of Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish. In addition, I explore ‘secular’ texts such as Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote , Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve , and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead . These latter works share a common theme: whimsical characters who originate from game rules and persistently seek to comprehend the underlying mechanisms of their existence and the ‘scripted’ actions they are compelled to perform.