The Great Game

[Dave Monroe]

What a Great Game to Play

ussia and France jointly attacking India…? seems unlikely. But, in the
19th century, this was a real possibility. Now: between the last
Russian out-post and the last British out-post there were 2000 miles
of uncharted, lawless, and boundary-less tracts, over which a land
invasion, it was envisioned, could take place. It was Central Asia
that they were looking at: tempting and dangerous: an area ripe for
adventure. Scores of young officers of both armies — British and
Russian — made clandestine journey into these areas to gather
intelligence: topography, vegetation, states which could align with
their countries, commercial prospects, and any other facet that could
contribute to an advancing army. They went as traders, dried-fruit
vendors, horse traders, gun runners, pilgrims, adventurers, every
guise was tried. Some succeeded and came back to the base; others lie
buried under some mound, or lie in some ditch, somewhere in central
Asia; as for the rest: well… RIP.

What a Great Game to play…

The ones who returned wrote detailed reports, followed by popular
books; some of them were best-sellers in their day. Below is a list of
the books that are available on the Great Game. Original reports and
narratives by the officers themselves still live on…

[...]

http://www.asianeds.com/the-great-game.asp

"The Great Game"

The Great Game was a term used to describe the rivalry and strategic
conflict between the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire for
supremacy in Central Asia. The term was later popularized by Rudyard
Kipling in his novel, Kim. The classic Great Game period is generally
regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian
Convention of 1907. Also the name of Padzhitnoff's airship.

I believe the great game stands for Espionage in the Age of Gentlemen,
the substance of Pynchon's Under the Rose.

http://pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_219-242#Page_227

Cricket in Against the Day

http://pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cricket_in_Against_the_Day