ABSTRACT
Francis Willughby's Book of Games is as far as he describes the rules of specific games in sufficient detail to instruct a novice, gives details of the processes of betting and comments on strategies for victory. The scope of Willughby's work extends to traditional pastimes, represented particularly in games associated with Christmas. Willughby was personally engaged with the Baconian programme through his association with the Royal Society committee concerned with the description of trades, as well as through his own reading. Scattered throughout the text are observations which demonstrate the mathematician, observing, testing and speculating about the games in question and their origin and meaning. These concerns are set out in a programmatic way at the start of the volume in the booklet on 'Plaies'. In a century marked by extremes of religious fervour and social unrest, the activities which fall under the headings of leisure and recreation themselves roused conflicting passions about moral perceptions and legal controls.
