ASeptember 17 1977
Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia, Saturday, September 17, 1977
Dr. Leslie Ault, an expert on the psychology of game playing, explains the challenge of the British game, Mastermind, for which he authored the official handbook. He demonstrates a floor model of the game which normally is played on a small board.
The Games People Play Are Revealing
By Kathy Wells, Assistant TODAY Editor
The games people play shouldn't be taken so lightly.
Whether you play poker or bridge, chess or checkers tells something about your make-up, personality and motivation.
In poker there isn't inter play whereas many bridge players play chess and vice versa. Some games take longer to learn and longer to play; within some games there is an element of patience while other games contain an element of luck, says Dr. Leslie Ault, professor of behavioral sciences and an expert on the psychology of game playing. He was recently in Tidewater at Rices Nachmans to demonstrate “Mastermind,” a unique British game for which he authored the book “The Official Master Mind Handbook” which is in its revised edition. His appearance is part of the “British Affair” going on in all Tidewater Rices Nachmans through Sept. 24.
Some people prefer games where there is chance and luck because these types of games do not threaten their ego or prestige. “They can rationalize it when the dice come out wrong or they get bad cards. The other extreme is the game of skill where such a person is turned on by the intellectual challenge, the mastering of the game.”
The playing of games is increasing around the world, and Dr. Ault says this reflects the need for active stimulation. Going back historically, adults had little recreation but in the 20th century work time is declining. Some adults have spent their extra 20-30 hours a week glued to the television sets, but more are recognizing the bad side effects of this habit and are seeking more constructive ways of spending time which takes in camping, sports, hobbies of collecting and games of all types.
“The monetary outlay for leisure is doubling every 10 years,” notes Dr. Ault.
“Americans have bad trouble with obesity, but people are beginning to realize the importance of physical fitness and are turning to active stimulation.”
What makes a good child's game? A game the child can understand, that isn't above level for the child. Look for a game which offers an intellectual challenge and where there is some strategy. A game should be a social activity as well as a contributor to the learning process. “The more you learn, the easier it is to learn,” says Dr. Ault. The sophistication of games today reflects the interest of adults in games, he observes. As far as the electronic games and games played on the television screen, Dr. Ault views them as a novelty which soon wears off. “It's a pale substitute for doing the real thing.”
Dr. Ault's fascination with Mastermind and his love for chess brings him communication from all parts of the world, especially computer specialists who employ the computer wizards to print out sheets upon sheets of Mastermind solutions. He tries to answer each one encouraging them and thanking them for the printouts and analyses of Mastermind probabilities. “It's very easy to get technical about Mastermind,” he says.
If you're not familiar with Mastermind, it's a game of logic and wits between two players. It is played with plastic pegs in holes. The objective of Mastermind is to guess a secret code consisting of colored pegs. Each guess results in feedback narrowing the possibilities. The winner is the player who solves his opponent's secret code with the fewer guesses.
There have been two British Mastermind tournaments, and this winter there will be an international championship. Invicta, the producer of Mastermind, will sponsor contests throughout American colleges with the winner receiving an expense-paid trip to the British championship.
Dr. Ault is also the author of “Chess Tutor” and “Elements of Combinations,” and he co-authored Bobby Fischer's first book of chess, “Bobby Fischer Teacher Chess.”
November 21 1977
The Kansas City Times, Kansas City, Missouri, Monday, November 21, 1977
Games a Cure To Primal Urge For Conquest
By Michael Nelson
A Member of the Staff
There lurks in all of us a savage self, an unforgetting Neanderthal soul longing for the hunt, the conquest, the primeval victory.
Lacking the spear not needing the daily kill we satisfy this wild craving through—you won't believe it—Monopoly or other games — at least according to Dr. Leslie Ault.
“We don't have the excitement of hunting for our meals,” says Ault, a psychologist at the City University of New York. “Now we just go to the supermarket. Our needs are taken care of; we have money. It seems as if adult games could serve as a psychological substitute for hunting and other activities. We have to prove in adulthood that we are the masters of our minds and bodies.
“This is something that we knew in childhood,” he says. “As children we have a drive to master our environment. Look at how quickly a child picks up words and wants to master the language. By playing games we try to prove that we are masters of our minds and bodies.
“Since we no longer spend time hunting for our meals and have lots of leisure time we satisfy this desire to master our environment in about three ways: hunting for sport, sports and collecting. We spend billions on games and recreation because of this surge in leisure time.”
But the increase in leisure time an outgrowth of modern society is not the only reason for the popularity of games he contends. It is known for example that some games were popular during the Middle Ages although “we can't be sure because the history of the world is more a matter of wars and conquest than games.”
This is not to say that games are a frivolous matter. To the contrary, Ault says, they provide a needed outlet for physical and mental stimulation and a constructive use of leisure time. In adulthood he says there is an urgent need to exercise the body's mental and physical capabilities to provide excitement to what for many people are years of boredom.
“In playing adult games we can suffer the anxiety of imminent defeat and the thrill of victory,” he says. “We can experience vicariously some excitement. This is a reaction to the confines of modern life.
“Most people in their work get very little feedback. When I'm lecturing there isn't a magic number that lights up telling me how I'm doing. It's a very vague standard. Even with a lawyer arguing a case he may win or lose it but it could be for the wrong reasons.
“With a game you get immediate feedback on how your mind is working,” Ault says. “You can even get that from something as simple as a crossword puzzle.”
Ault, the author of the Official MasterMind Handbook and several other game manuals has firsthand experience. He won the intercollegiate chess championship in 1959 and was a member of the Eastern Championship Chess team in 1962 while attending Columbia University.
He is paid to promote MasterMind a code game involving logical deduction cunning and luck. Played by two persons one player establishes a hidden code with colored pegs and the other tries to break the code within 10 tries.
Despite his job, Ault's first love is chess something evident through the interview. For example:
•“Games of skill like chess suggest that the more you know about something the more you can learn. You can't overload the brain.”
•“You can learn lots of ways that things inter-relate through chess and MasterMind. Chess teaches you to consider options and MasterMind teaches you how to group things.”
•“Learning to play a game well has differing effects in other areas. Chess teaches you strategy and MasterMind has a mathematical application.”
Games may be the best way to teach good sportsmanship, Ault says.
“In some ways children are pushed to win but not to lose gracefully,” Ault says. “This isn't possible in table games because they are played through mutual consent; the child learns to savor success and cope with failure. If you lose and are a bad sport about it the next time you're ignored. The other person says ‘I'm not going to play with him anymore.’
“In organized sports you can be a bad sport. If you lose and stomp off the field you're going to be there next week anyway. In fact, in Little League the kid who is a gentleman after a loss frequently is thought of as the child who didn't want to win that bad, so bad conduct is in a way encouraged.
“Sports are good because they promote physical well-being but table games teach you how to handle the ups and downs of life gracefully and how to judge what's important”.
