Notes on Using GARD


Games Research Database

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Searching GARD

Each individual table can be searched by entering search criteria in the fields shown when you click on the table link. Searches are case-insensitive.

An 'OR' facility does exist - use the pipe symbol "|". However, beware of using unnecessary spaces. A search for "crokinole|pool" will find items that "crokinole | pool" does not.

These are real-text searches and do not work in the same way as search engines. So if you search Examples for "quail" you will find a game called "Quails" but you will also get several games called "Squails".

 

Scanning GARD

The Scan facility is less specific but very powerful. Using the same search technology as above, all relevant fields in all selected tables will be searched for the text entered in the single scan field. Results are produced from all selected tables in a single list.

 

Repositories

The following table shows the existing repositories of data in GARD:

Table Data Current Access
Books Book lists from various sources Publicly Available.
Game Names & Makers Each Game Name and Maker is linked to entries within the various subtables. Publicly Available.
Examples Real games either from collections or one-off information obtained from random sources. Many beautiful pictures. Most of this is publicly available but pictures of games taken at one Museum are not available to the general public for legal reasons.
Registrations Trademarks and Design Registrations from the National Archives, Patents derived from various sources. Data is publicly available but pictures are not due to National Archive publishing restrictions.
Copyright Registrations Copyright registrations held at the National Archives 1842 - 1912 Participants only while data is still being worked on. Public access is planned for a later date.
Adverts Adverts from catalogues and any other source. This is not yet started. Public access is planned for a later date.

The front-end source code for GARD and the data schema have been written by James Masters. Source code and Schema are freely given to be used for the purposes of GARD for perpetuity. Anybody wishing to use the source code for any other reason whatsoever, should first contact him.

The back-end database for GARD is MySQL, an open-source relational database.