Similar to sporting events, board games have been around for centuries, entertaining people from all around the world. Whether it was the first formal board game, a game based on tiles, or games that remind us of newer versions, these historical board games are a great way to revisit history while still having fun. Try out one of these five historical board games today, and learn more about their backstories.
5. The Game of the Goose
Our fifth selection for historical board games is the Game of the Goose, otherwise known as the earliest commercially produced board game. Duke Francesco de Medici first gifted the game to Philip II of Spain between 1574 and 1587, and the game quickly grew in popularity throughout Europe.
The game aims to get your piece to the center of the board, according to the rolls of a die. Some spaces have special rules, including starting the game again, but all players must score a perfect 63 to win the game. There are even hazards in the game, such as the Hotel, the Bridge, and Death.
4. Senet
Our fourth selection for historical board games transports players to the days of Tutankhamun and Queen Nefertari. Senet is another early board game dating to around 3100 BC, comprised of 30 squares laid in three rows of 10. Two players compete to try and get all their pieces to the end of the board, using casting sticks or bones to determine the number of squares moved.
While some boards were made from hollowed-out pieces of wood, others were decorated with hieroglyphs representing additional rules. The game lost popularity around the Roman period, and its original rules have since become a subject of conjecture.
3. Mahjong
The most recognizable out of all the historical board games on our list is Mahjong. The game was first played during the Qing dynasty in China (between 1644 and 1912) and is a strategy-based game using tiles. The tiles are decorated with Chinese characters, bamboo branches, and dots, with special tiles featuring winds, dragons, flowers, and seasons.
Mahjong sets are comprised of 144 tiles and it is played similarly to the card game rummy, and four players draw and discard tiles to complete their hand. The main aim of the game is to get all 14 of your tiles into four sets and one pair.
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2. Wari
While some historical board games kept their original name, like Mahjong, others have changed over the centuries. Our second selection is Wari, but is now commonly known as mancala. Wari is a game of calculation and strategy and was played widely within West Africa and is now popular all over the world.
The aim of the game is to capture the seeds of your opponent, moving them from their six playing holes to your bank. While some Wari sets are quite complex, you can create a board with a few items. All you need is a piece of paper with two rows of six circles with an oval at each end, and 48 marbles, beads, pebbles, or even sweets to represent the “seeds.”
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1. The Royal Game of Ur
Our number one selection for historical board games is The Royal Game of Ur which is the oldest playable board game in the world, originating around 4,600 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. The rules for the game were written on a cuneiform tablet by a Babylonian astronomer in 177 BC, where two players compete to race their pieces from one end of the board to the other.
The central squares of the board were also used for fortune-telling. The Royal Game of Ur is also equated to another ancient game, the Game of Twenty Squares, as they both have similar playing styles.
