Everyone has heard of the Gameshouse. But few know all its secrets. It is the place where fortunes can be made and lost through chess, backgammon--every game under the sun. But those whom fortune favors may be invited to compete in the higher league where the games played are of politics and empires, of economics and kings. It is a league where Capture the Castle involves real castles, where hide and seek takes place on the scale of a continent. Among those worthy of competing in the higher league, three unusually talented contestants play for the highest stakes of all.