Lore

Lore 295: Making Your Luck

December 15, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The history of games, from ancient Mesopotamian boards to modern parlor games like Cluedo (Clue), often intertwines with beliefs in divination, fortune-telling, and superstition. 
  • Gambling superstitions, such as those surrounding specific playing cards like the Four of Clubs or the Nine of Diamonds, reflect deep-seated cultural anxieties and historical events. 
  • Lottery dream books, particularly those published in the US during the rise of the 'Numbers' game in Harlem, served as tools for both fortune-telling and covert political empowerment for the Black community. 

Segments

Origin of Cluedo Game
Copied to clipboard!
(00:01:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The board game Cluedo (Clue) was invented by Anthony E. Pratt while sheltering from the Blitz in Birmingham.
  • Summary: Anthony E. Pratt, a piano player at murder mystery parties, conceived of a miniature parlor game during the Nazi bombings of Birmingham. He and his wife, Elva, developed the game, which introduced characters like Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum. This creation became the game known as Cluedo in the UK and Clue in the United States.
Ancient Games and Divination
Copied to clipboard!
(00:03:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Ancient board games like the Royal Game of Ur and Senet were used not only for recreation but also for fortune-telling and mapping the soul’s journey to the afterlife.
  • Summary: Archaeological finds confirm humans have played games since the Neolithic period, including the 4,600-year-old Royal Game of Ur, whose rules revealed it doubled as a tool to predict the future via zodiac squares. The Egyptian game Senet, meaning ‘Game of Passing Through,’ evolved to represent the soul’s journey through the underworld, leading some to play it alone against spirits. King Tutankhamun was buried with four Senet boards made of precious materials.
Fanarona’s Political Role
Copied to clipboard!
(00:06:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Fanarona, Madagascar’s national game, was used by the royal court to predict political events, leading to disastrous consequences during the French invasion of 1895.
  • Summary: Fanarona, like Senet, transitioned from a two-player game to a tool for divinatory rituals. Professional players were employed by the Madagascan court to guide political decisions based on game outcomes. Legend states the Queen refused to issue military orders because the Fanarona players had not finished predicting the outcome of the French invasion, resulting in the fall of the monarchy.
Poker Superstitions and Lore
Copied to clipboard!
(00:08:25)
  • Key Takeaway: The famous ‘Dead Man’s Hand’ attributed to Wild Bill Hickok was not documented until 50 years after his death, and the actual cards he held were mixed in color.
  • Summary: James ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok’s death hand, known as the Dead Man’s Hand (two black aces and two black eights), has become a major poker superstition despite historical records suggesting the actual hand was mixed in color. Other unlucky cards include the Four of Clubs, linked to a folktale about the Devil dropping it while dealing, and the Nine of Diamonds, the ‘Curse of Scotland,’ associated with the massacre ordered by Sir John Dalrymple, whose coat of arms featured nine diamonds. Gamblers use rituals like turning chairs backward to counteract bad luck.
Lottery Dream Books and Economics
Copied to clipboard!
(00:14:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Lottery dream books, originating in 15th-century Europe, became a significant source of economic power and cultural autonomy for the Black community in Harlem through the ‘Numbers’ game.
  • Summary: The Italian monk’s book La Smorphia established the tradition of linking dreams to lottery numbers, which later evolved in the US with policy games. American dream books, often leaning on racial stereotypes, gained massive popularity among Black players of the illegal ‘Numbers’ lottery in Harlem. Herbert Gladstone Paris, an immigrant carpenter posing as Professor Uriah Khanj, published highly successful dream books that secretly promoted Black liberation and education.
Professor Khanj’s Hidden Message
Copied to clipboard!
(00:22:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Herbert Gladstone Paris embedded political ideology within his lottery dream books, using positive interpretations for dreams involving people of color and warning against the KKK (number 000).
  • Summary: Paris used his popular dream books to advocate for social change, urging his Black readership to pursue education for upward mobility. The interpretations showed a clear bias: dreaming of a white man signified danger or lawsuits, while dreaming of people of color promised riches and success. Dreaming of the Ku Klux Klan specifically denoted a ‘dangerous undertaking’ with the suggested number 000.
Conmen on the Titanic
Copied to clipboard!
(00:31:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Professional card-playing conmen, known as ‘gentlemen of the green cloth,’ successfully cheated wealthy passengers aboard the RMS Titanic and survived the sinking by jumping into a descending lifeboat.
  • Summary: Card sharks frequently posed as gentlemen on 19th and early 20th-century luxury steamships to fleece rich passengers, using coded language and sleight-of-hand tricks to rig games like bridge. Three such gamblers, George Brereton, Charles Romaine, and Harry Homer, were winning large sums when the Titanic struck an iceberg. Ignoring the initial chaos, they only fled when directly warned, ultimately escaping by leaping from the promenade deck into a lifeboat as it was lowered.