
Board Games of the Ancient World - CrankyBear
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/best-board-games-ancient-world-180974094/
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mysterydip
One thing I learned only recently was the Romans had a version of tic-tac-toe
(noughts and crosses, Xs and Os, etc) that is (IMHO) superior to the modern
version.

While any capable player will always draw in the modern version, the ancient
one gives each player only three pieces. To place a new one, an old must be
removed. On the surface at least, this seems to result in a much more
strategic game.

I wonder why the modern variant is the one that is most well known?

~~~
marcofiset
One thing that I've learned over the years playing modern board games is that
the vast majority of the population is too intellectually lazy to bother
learning new games. They'd rather keep playing their (outdated) classics that
they know than learn new and better-designed games.

~~~
b0rsuk
Monopoly! Woo!!

~~~
smoyer
Monotony? ... for some reason I never had a problem playing Risk in college
even though it would last all night (or more). Playing a six-hour game of
Monopoly was only fun for the first couple of hours.

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Psyladine
Monopoly should rarely, if ever, last more than 45 minutes. Assuming Of Course
you are playing by the rules. All properties landed on must sell - even if by
auction, no free parking payout, chance cards are not optional, no banker
loans, and there are a finite number of houses which caps development for the
late-comers.

It's as ruthless and unpleasant as a game of Sorry but that's the point,
capitalism is only great when you're winning.

~~~
b0rsuk
You are exactly right, because Monopoly was literally invented as a propaganda
device to show how awful capitalism is. The game was literally meant to be
unpleasant and soul-draining. But... something went wrong. People took it at
face value, and claim to be enjoying the experience. Stockholm Syndrome?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord%27s_Game#Descript...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord%27s_Game#Description)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Well, I enjoy playing it, and appreciate the message. The best bit for me is
the auctioning of the properties, however.

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jimtwo
A lot of this article is inaccurate:
[https://twitter.com/CuseKicks/status/1225417738656604160](https://twitter.com/CuseKicks/status/1225417738656604160)

~~~
lubujackson
I am excited for the book he mentions working on about games from an
archaeological perspective.

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jvm_
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I)

25 minutes of "Tom Scott vs Irving Finkel: The Royal Game of Ur". Great to
watch.

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davee5
Irving Finkel's lectures are marvelous. Watching his lecture on the
decipherment of cuneiform is a delight, both in subject matter and in the
delivery of a well worn and thoroughly polished presentation. (If only all
professors were so articulate and passionate.)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYYraMgiBA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYYraMgiBA)

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mstade
I love playing Backgammon, I find it to be an almost perfect blend of skill
and luck, while also being much more accessible than something like chess.
It's easy enough to learn on the fly, and after only a few games you start
recognizing patterns and strategies and it really motivates you to get better.
I find it's a pretty good way to get a more intuitive grasp on probability as
well.

It's also easy to teach other how to play and get hooked. I have lunch at the
same spot almost every day, and I bring a backgammon rollup travel set with me
so I can play with whomever might be interested in a game. Most often it'll be
the owner or her staff (I've taught six of them how to play, so far!) but
sometimes random people will come up and say "what's that game" and we're off
to the races. Great conversation starter!

~~~
misja111
Backgammon has gained some new popularity since computer programs appeared
that were able to beat humans and more importantly, analyze the games
afterwards. The game is now played more as a game of skill than of luck: there
are some backgammon sites that rate your play according to computer analysis,
e.g. [https://backgammongalaxy.com/](https://backgammongalaxy.com/). If you're
interested you should give it a try.

~~~
mstade
I have tried it actually, but thanks for the tip anyway! :o)

I'm curious about this surge in popularity though. Where I am (Sweden) most
people seem to know about backgammon, but not many know how to play so can't
say I recognize that surge. Regardless, people mostly seem keen to learn which
is great fun for me since I love to teach, and it's a great feeling when they
win without any help on strategy or moves. :o)

~~~
misja111
If you'd like to see some good players in action: there are a few backgammon
tournaments in Sweden with some world class participants. For instance
[https://dubbel5.se/tournaments/SO2109.html](https://dubbel5.se/tournaments/SO2109.html)

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lordleft
Sometimes I look at my closet filled to the brim with expensive boardgames,
sometimes packed with well-honed mechanics and expensive miniatures, and
consider the irony of the fact that in our age of ceaseless digital
distraction, we have more offline entertainment than ever before. Surely
someone in the 18th century (AD or BCE) would more greatly appreciate the
embarrassment of board-gaming riches we have today.

~~~
contingencies
Same for Steam accounts / cellphones vs. 80s consoles / portable handheld
gaming systems.

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b0rsuk
I'm sure ancient peoples had much more opportunity to play outside. They
didn't have our resources, but they had lots of playing field. Lots of room
for throwing stones, darts, climbing. If you were old or unathletic you could
still collect mushrooms or berries - that's a game of perception and patience.
Singing or instrument playing contests, fishing contests. Or "let-see-who-can-
grow-the-biggest-pumpkin" contest.We increasingly live in cities and going
outside often means going into noise or crowd.

My point: I'm sure many games they played were not on boards. They didn't have
to be.

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smoyer
Cool to see the Tafl games in this article! Being part Welsh, I've researched
and (tried to) played "tawlbwrdd" with a printed paper board and a few coins.
I'm thinking about turning a maple tree (and a bit of black walnut) that we
had cut down into heirloom games for my kids (they used to climb in those
trees).

[http://tafl.cyningstan.com/page/172/tawlbwrdd](http://tafl.cyningstan.com/page/172/tawlbwrdd)

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swagasaurus-rex
The game of the goose sounds a lot like Candy Land.

> A race governed purely by chance, the competition involves “not the
> slightest element of skill or true player interaction towards the winning of
> stakes

This seems to describe the gameplay of candy land: literally no way to make
your self lose any more than you already are. You are simply at the whim of
where the next card you draw tells you to go.

~~~
hanniabu
I used to live candy land as a kid and now that I'm older I hate it because
it's all luck and there's no strategy in it. My favorite right now is
Splendor.

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leto_ii
On a couple of occasions I have actually seen such ancient game boards in
different places in Italy. Here's one from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome:
[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaming_Board_in_the_...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaming_Board_in_the_Baths_of_Caracalla.jpg)

I especially like the thought that countless people have played on the same
board for whole generations. It was a public pass-time that brought people
together.

~~~
mrob
Is there evidence that it was actually used for playing games? The irregular
placement of the divots makes it look like a kind of vandalism that was
popular when I was in school, where people would surreptitiously use coins to
grind divots in walls while waiting for class.

~~~
leto_ii
I don't have any definitive proof at hand, but it was mentioned in the
brochure for the Baths of Caracalla. Here's a photo with a longer description:
[http://www.ipernity.com/doc/287951/48703648](http://www.ipernity.com/doc/287951/48703648)

I think this kind of stuff was relatively common throughout the Roman world.

~~~
mrob
It's more obviously a game board in this photo. The irregular placement
increases the difficulty of the game.

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danidiaz
The cathedrals of Ourense and León in Spain have a few game boards etched in
stone at discreet places. Some of them look like Nine Men Morris (Alquerque?)
boards: [http://jesus-manuel.com/2015/08/08/658/](http://jesus-
manuel.com/2015/08/08/658/) (in Spanish)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquerque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquerque)

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pgtan
Not mentioned in the article: Snakes and Ladders. Was real fun to play with my
son, especially coming up with new rules after while.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders)

~~~
tauchunfall
It's also fun to experiment with Markov chains with Snakes and Ladders.

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sherr
The History Blog [1] (a great read daily) has a post today (coincidentally) on
a recently unearthed Viking era "hnefatafl" piece, probably a king. Dug up on
Lindisfarne, a holy island site off the coast of Northumbria in England. It's
a lovely piece of decorated azure glass. The post is worth a (short) read.

[1]
[http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57805](http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57805)

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failrate
I was disappointed that the chosen games were ones that we don't have rules to
play them.

The Royal Game of Ur is an ancient game where we actually have the rules. It's
easy to make a board for it, and it plays great. My recommendation is to to
play it with 4 coins or other 2 sided randomizers instead of a 4 sided die,
because I find a normal curve more satisfying than flat probability.

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acomjean
The royal game of Ur sounded familiar. They released a boxed version is the
70s I vaguely remember..

Board game geek has a summary:
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1602/royal-game-
ur](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1602/royal-game-ur)

Interesting.. backgammon and chess seem to have thrived..

~~~
dkersten
Here's a video of Tom Scott playing it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I)

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Aperocky
Game of go have been played since Spring and Autumn period (~500 BC), at the
time, it's just called 'The Board Game'.

Quite a few variation happened, at the time it was played on 17*17 board and
with 4 existing stones at the beginning. But the general rule (which was so
simple) persisted.

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navbaker
There was an ancient game I found an article on a few years back that I have
been unable to find again. It (I believe) was an Asian game and had over 400
distinct pieces, each with their own rules for movement. Does that sound
familiar to anyone? I’m striking out with google...

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al_chemist
> over 400 distinct pieces, each with their own rules for movement

I doubt it'd exist. It's hard to place 400 pieces on board, hard to remember
400 different movement patterns, it takes forever to setup the game.

Shogi is asian game with 15 types of pieces.

~~~
mrob
There's this probably never widely played shogi variant:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taikyoku_shogi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taikyoku_shogi)

"Each player has a set of 402 wedge-shaped pieces of 209 types. The players
must remember 253 sets of moves."

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navbaker
That’s it! Thank you!

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bashmelek
Makes me wonder about how these games evolved over time and why we have the
modern versions we do now. Are the games we have today really more "fun" or is
there something in these that we've been missing and have to experience?

