We try to have a board game night every weekend, so learning these historic board games was a blast. Honestly, my chess-loving children were better at these strategic games than I!
We didn’t discover these games until we studied the middle ages, but some of their origins go back further.
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Nine Men Morris
There is archaeological evidence that places the oldest version of Nine Men Morris as far back as ancient times in Egypt. According to Games Crafters, the earliest known board for the game was found at a temple at Kurna in Egypt, with an estimated date of around 1440 BC.
Read the instructions (or watch the video!) and download a free printable for the board at gathertogethergames.com.
Fox and Geese
The earliest undisputed record of the game in its recognizable form comes from the late 15th century in the household accounts of English King Edward IV, which document the purchase of silver “foxes and hounds” (likely geese) for sets of “marelles,” widely interpreted as Fox and Geese.
We watched this youtube video and followed the link in the description to download a free, printable game board. I found it very difficult to win from the position of the geese. If you play this, let me know what you think!
Masters of Games describes this game as “a game of inequality. The geese cannot capture the fox but aim, through the benefit of numbers, to hem the fox in so that he cannot move. The objective of the fox, on the other hand, is to capture geese until it becomes impossible for them to trap him. The geese start by occupying all 6 squares of one arm of the cross plus the whole first adjacent row and the two end points of the central row. The fox starts in the middle of the board.”
Hnefatafl
This is also known as Viking Chess. I printed and used this download from Cyningstan Games which includes a nice backstory introduction and history to the game. The website says that “Hnefatafl began its life in Scandinavia. It probably developed from a Roman war game called Ludus Latrunculorum, which in turn developed from petteia, a game of the Greeks. In its Scandinavian form, hnefatafl was taken through trade and invasion to the British Isles, to Iceland, France, Germany, Ukraine and to Greenland.”
Kuub
Enough with the board games, this is an outdoor, throwing-type of game! Also known as Viking Chess, this one is easy to learn and play in a group. We’ve had so much fun pulling it out at picnics and birthday parties!
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- Best Fiction Books about Medieval Europe
- The Middle Ages in Literature: Review of AmblesideOnline Year 7
- Books about Medieval Times: Review of AmblesideOnline Year 2