[Bryn-gwlad] documentable period games (was: Ancient Board Games - British Museum Press)

[Coblaith Mhuimhneach]

Cal- wrote:
> Are there any other interesting board types other than 9 man morris 
> and Fox and the hens that folks can point to online?

There is a wealth of information about a large number of period games, 
including board games, on the Medieval & Renaissance Games site 
<http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/>.


>  Obviously chess is period, what about checkers and backgammon?

I don't know whether checkers itself, as played today, existed before 
1600, but there were period games that resembled checkers, including 
alquerque and fierges.

Backgammon is a modern game, but many other tables games, some of them 
quite similar to backgammon, were played in period.

Some of the modern rules for chess were introduced very late in period. 
  Fortunately, information on how it was played earlier has survived, so 
you can learn to play as your persona would even if you don't "live" 
during the Renaissance.  (You'll need elephants, but no queens.)

Information on all of these is available on the site mentioned above.  
For tables and chess, you might also want to visit the Alfonos X Book 
of Games Home Page <http://games.rengeekcentral.com/>, where a 
modern-English translation of a 13th-century Iberian tract on gaming is 
presented.  (It also includes rules for morris, dice games, and a few 
other, rather strange games.)


Coblaith Mhuimhneach