If my statements about the connection between one’s personal philosophy and one’s approach to games intrigues you, let me recommend the 1988 Science Fiction novel “The Player of Games,” by Ian M. Banks:
“he Culture – a humanoid/machine symbiotic society – has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game and with it the challenge of his life, and very possibly his death.”
The cover for Ian M. Banks’ 1988 Science Fiction novel, “The Player of Games.” Two humanoid figures sit across from each other an otherworldly looking table, playing some inscrutable tabletop game in front of a background of fire.