HUMOUR REVIEW: Dave Gorman Vs the Rest of the World - Dave Gorman

Release Date: 12/04/12

SYNOPSIS:

Remember when you were a kid, and you used to go round to a friend's house to see if they were playing? Well, as adults we're not supposed to do that. Which is a shame...because Dave Gorman likes playing. He really likes games. So he knocked on the biggest door you could ever imagine - the internet - and asked 76,000 people if they fancied a game. This is the story of what happened next. Dave was up for anything and gamely played them at whatever they chose. He played some classics - Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes and cribbage. He played many games he'd never heard of before - Khet, Kubb, Tikal or Smite anyone? He played board games and physical games. He's thrown sticks, balls, frisbees and darts. He's rolled dice and he's drawn cards. From Liverpool to Hampstead and from Croydon to Nottingham, Dave travelled the length and breadth of Britain meeting strangers in strange places - their homes, at work, in the back rooms of pubs - and getting some hardcore game action. From casual players to serious game geeks, from the rank amateur to the world champion, he discovered a nation of gamers more than happy to welcome him into their midst. He's travelled all around the country and met all sorts of people - and it turns out us Brits are a competitive bunch! And it seems that playing games can teach you a lot about what makes the British tick. Of course, Dave hasn't been keeping score. Much.


REVIEW:

Game playing in any other format other than the electronic media seems to be a dying art form and for those who are of a certain age, you’ll remember the fun of hoping to the god of board games that you had all the pieces together so that you could play or even just games of fun like darts, snooker etc.

Dave Gorman, a comedian that I’d heard of but not actually seen, challenged the world to a contest of games and wrote this book based around the events. From the weird and the wonderful Khet (basically Laser Chess) to snooker, Monopoly and Scrabble to Smite it’s a story of one man’s journey into the madness and competitiveness. All in, this book was great fun to read and Dave is a natural storyteller as he brings it all together in this often funny and interesting title as he takes you on perhaps one of the weirdest journeys to date. A must for people of all ages.