The Player of Games offers a view inside Culture itself – in this far-future utopia, there is no money, no scarcity, even death is uncommon, while society itself is automated by seemingly benevolent AI known as Minds. Though part of a sequence that broadened the intellectual scope of science-fiction literature, The Player of Games remains a mesmeric standalone read, an idea supernova that combines the surreal concepts of Philip K. Dick with the world-building of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and the intellectual rigour of Asimov.