The novel “The Player of Games” by Iain M. Banks was published for the first time in 1988. It’s part of the Culture series.

Jernau Morat Gurgeh is the best player in the Culture but his skill with any type of game leads him to get bored. The Contact section offers him to go to the Empire of Azad to participate in a very special game that goes far beyond the normal concept of board game but that civilization’s home planet is many light-years away from the Culture and the journey would take a few years. The commitment seems too heavy and Gurgeh declines the offer.

The robot Mawhrin-Skel offers Gurgeh help in a match that would allow him to achieve a perfect score. Gurgeh only partially accepts the help and doesn’t achieve perfection but above all Mawhrin-Skel blackmails him to get help from him to be readmitted in Special Circumstances, which had expelled it due to its instability. To do this, Gurgeh ends up accepting the offer to travel to the Empire of Azad.