While video games are a relatively recent invention, humans have been enjoying various types of board games for thousands of years. In fact, archeological digs regularly find gaming pieces relating to Antiquity and the Middle Ages, particularly in urban environments or places where soldiers were stationed. For example at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Britain alone, sixteen gaming boards have been found to date.
Written sources also allude to board games with famous poets making references to their rules. However, the greatest source of all, at least for the medieval period, has to be King Alfonso X of Castile's Libro de los juegos, or Book of Games, which details an astounding number of game variants. These ancient and medieval board games are often the ancestors of modern equivalents, and some even find their way into the best historical games as optional mini-games.
5 Chess
The history of chess is a long and complicated one, and rules for the game were rarely standardized across time and place. While the Lewis Chessmen present the most iconic image of medieval chess, more is actually known about the medieval version of the game from Alfonso X's Book of Games.
The book describes chess as the noblest of games, and it is said to require more mastery than other types of games included in the book. While variants of chess are discussed, the more standard game included the same amount of pieces as modern chess, and the movements and rules were fairly familiar. The most notable difference is the lack of a queen, with a much less overpowered fers, or in the English version, a prime minister, taking her place. Bishops were also instead known as elephants for the most part. Sometimes dice were used in chess to speed up the game.
4 Great Chess
Attempts to create crazy variants of chess are by no means a new phenomenon. One of the most interesting versions of chess included in Alfonso X's Book of Games is Great Chess. As the name implies, this is a bigger variant of the game, played on a bigger board of a 12 X 12 square grid as opposed to an 8 X 8 grid, with each player controlling 24 pieces.
More surprisingly though are the pieces themselves that are used in Great Chess, as they include exotic animals such as crocodiles, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and lions all with their own unique moves. Anyone who is familiar with medieval bestiary art will know that their depictions might not have been too accurate.
3 Ludus Latrunculorum - The Game Of Brigands
Ludus Latrunculorum, which roughly translates to The Game of Brigands, was a hugely popular board game found throughout the Roman Empire. While the exact rules continue to elude historians, and most likely were not standardized at the time, it is generally accepted to be a military tactics game with similarities to draughts. For example, it was a two-player game played on a grid and opposing pieces could be captured between two of the player's own pieces.
Interestingly, Ludus Latrunculorum may have been a game enjoyed at all levels of society as it is referenced by famed authors such as Ovid, while at the archeological site of Vindolanda, sixteen boards have been found both near the officer's quarters, and the regular barracks, as well as outside the fort. Fans of Roman history can check out these video games.
2 Dice Games
Dice games in general were extremely popular in both ancient times and the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the sheer amount of dice that have been excavated. One of the most striking images of a game of dice takes place between Ajax and Achilles on a famous Greek amphora. Dice would have been made out of bone, wood, stone, and even ivory for those who could afford it. While most would have been six-sided dice, Alfonso X's Book of Games also makes reference to seven and eight-sided dice, sometimes used alongside each other in the same game.
Dice games would have come in many forms and would have been synonymous with gambling, but dice themselves would also have been used in games of chess and tables. One modern game that features a dice mini-game is Kingdom Come: Deliverance, widely regarded as one of the best medieval video games of all time.
1 Astrological Tables For Seven Players
- A game of Astrological Tables for seven players from Alfonso X's Libro de los juegos f. 97v
While many of the games on this list are for just two players, Astrological Tables is a game described in Libro de los juegos that is not only for seven players but, in fact, is all about the number seven. There were many versions of Tables in the Middle Ages, and it is likely derived from a Roman game, however, people nowadays will recognize it as an ancestor of backgammon.
This version of Tables is played by seven players on a seven-sided board which is split into seven segments that are also further subdivided into seven spaces. Unsurprisingly, each player also has seven pieces, and seven-sided dice are used to play. The aim of the game is to capture all the pieces and remain the last one standing. How this ties into astrology is that at this time only seven planets were recognized, including the moon and the sun, and each segment of the board represented a planet with corresponding colors.