The Waldzell
Glass Bead GameLast modified: Thu 5/22/97 1730 PDT
The Glass Bead Game at Waldzell is a concretized version of the game described, in general terms, in Hermann Hesse's 1943 novel, Das Glasperlenspiel (English: Magister Ludi or The Glass Bead Game). Although Waldzell provides guidance in the form of rules of play, the central product is the Glass Bead Game Archive. The purpose of the Game Archive (which has a precedent in the novel) is to provide a single, easily accessible repository of completed games. For Waldzell, this repository serves both the Game directly as a source of structures upon which to build, as well as the Canon as a source of incremental growth and concensus.
There is a brief overview of the Waldzell Glass Bead Game for complete newcomers. For official, detailed information on the current version of the rules of the Waldzell Game, proceed to the rules page.
There is an electronic mailing list, GBG-List, for those who are interested in the Waldzell Game and other concretizations of Hesse's idea.
To register as a Waldzell Player, you will be able to proceed to the Player Registration Page, just as soon as it exists. If you are already registered, you will then be able to proceed directly to the Game Play Server to play or observe a game online, or to the Game Archive to search for and view completed games.