Epileptic seizures during card games and draughts

This paper presents a case of epileptic seizures occurring during card games and draughts. The patient was a 26-year-old man who complained of "arrests of thought" while playing cards or draughts or solving mathematical problems. The attacks, which were very rare in other situations, had begun at the age of 14. Between the ages of 14 and 21 he had had occasional tonic-clonic seizures. Protracted EEG recording showed bursts of 3 Hz spike-wave discharges during the day. Such discharges were very much more frequent when the patient was playing cards of draughts and only these circumstances were subjectively experienced as lapses of consciousness. Various explanations can be advanced for this case.