The Game-Players of Titan in Philip K Dick

Feb 19, 2008 Hertzan Chimera rated it it was amazing

In the future there’s nothing more important the board game ‘Bluff’. A great war with the Vugs, an alien race from the planet Titan, has seriously decimated the human race. Mankind finds a way to win a decisive victory against the Vugs, but at the cost of infertility throughout the majority of those few humans who survive the conflict. There really are no more than a few thousand Americans left on the planet. They spend most of their time playing Bluff, those that have no psi-ability - psis are In the future there’s nothing more important the board game ‘Bluff’. A great war with the Vugs, an alien race from the planet Titan, has seriously decimated the human race. Mankind finds a way to win a decisive victory against the Vugs, but at the cost of infertility throughout the majority of those few humans who survive the conflict. There really are no more than a few thousand Americans left on the planet. They spend most of their time playing Bluff, those that have no psi-ability - psis are banned from playing Bluff for obvious reasons. If the Vug-Human police alliance finds any psi’c playing Bluff, they’re banned for life. But that’s not the basis for the story.

The political backdrop is the truly alien part of the book. The Vugs haven’t really lost; they’ve just allowed mankind to continue on. They are the true rulers of the planet. They control the space around planet Earth. They control what makes the remaining populace tick. Bluff is the drug they use to control mankind.

Philip K Dick was a true innovator and seer of the future. He foresaw how control of a basically-addictive populace could be achieved in a number of ways; in his book A Scanner Darkly, it’s substance D; in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, it’s Mercerism; here it’s a simple board game.

But why ban the psychics from the game? Isn’t it obvious? The game’s a Monopoly / poker hybrid. Very simple rule set. Try to cheat, that’s the best way to victory. Bluff by name. Bluff by nature. In common-or-garden Monopoly you roll your dice, you move your piece. Bluff’s poker-like overlay ensures that your opponent never knows whether the move you’ve made is a true move or a fake move to increase your score. Call your opponent’s bluff at your peril - they could be leading you down a debt-painted garden path.

In true Philip K Dick fashion, the world is treated like a parallel world. Written in 1963, the book harkens back to a time not unlike the end of the Second World War. Or maybe that’s just the particular twist my mind put on it whilst reading. It felt like the 1950s. Of course all domestic appliances have Rushmore effects that allow you to communicate with them, of course the cars fly; of course they have heat-needles (lasers). It felt like a place of hope. If only we could see the ‘big picture’. But Dick only shows us that late in the novel, though hints at the true intentions of the Vugs are there for the astute PKD fan to at least guess at early on.

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Jun 23, 2013 Garrett Cook rated it really liked it

What does it feel like being a working artist? Pretty much this. Though lagging a bit in the middle, this book's constant noir reversals and awesomely dramatic resolution make it a great, gripping read. ...more

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Nov 06, 2008 Brian Johnson rated it it was amazing

The Game Players of Titan is one of my Favorite books by PKD. I've read it 3 times in the past but I loaned it to somebody, hmmm I think it was Tracy! Where is my book woman!
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