Number of players: 2+
Type of game: Dice
Period: 1500+

History

Glückshaus, is German for “lucky house,” or “house of fortune” and seems to be a modern name for a simple German gambling game using dice, coins/tokens, and a board dating back to the 1500’s.
Some of the early names for the game refer to the number seven “Die lustige Sieben” (The Funny Seven) due to the importance of the “7” space on the board. The board was normally divided into ten spaces numbered 2 – 12, with the number 4 missing. Most boards were plain, and simply drawn, or painted on a wooden board or table top, although a more elaborately decorated board (dated to 1583) has figures painted on it that resemble German playing cards. The spaces for the numbers 2 (The Pig, or Lucky Pig), 7 (The Wedding), and 12 (The King), are the only spaces that have consistent names or markings. Players start with an equal number of coins/chips (10, or 12 recommended).

Number of players: 2+
Type of game: Skill
Period: 1500+

History

There were two methods of playing in ancient Europe. The first, and probably the primitive method, consisted in tossing up and catching the bones on the back of the hand, very much as the game is played today. In ancient Rome, it was called tali: a painting excavated from Pompeii, currently housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, depicts the goddesses Latona, Niobe Phoebe, Aglaia and Hileaera, with the last two being engaged in playing a game of knucklebones. According to an epigram of Asclepiodotus, astragali were given as prizes to schoolchildren. This simple form of the game was generally only played by women and children, and was called penta litha or five-stones. There were several varieties of this game besides the usual toss and catch; one being called tropa, or hole-game, the object of which was to toss the bones into a hole in the earth. Another was the simple game of odd or even.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 116BC

History

Ludus Latrunculorum is played on boards of varying sizes with 7×7, 8×8, 9×9, 7×8, and 9×10 boards having been found.

There are various reconstructions of the rules, here are the two I use

Rules

Museum Quintana reconstruction

These are the rules from the Museum Quintana in Künzing

1. Two players have sixteen pieces each, which are arranged in two rows facing each other. The goal of the game is to capture all of the opponent’s pieces.
2. The pieces move orthogonally any unobstructed distance. A piece is captured when it is caught between two opposing pieces on adjacent squares in a rank or file. The captured piece is removed from the board. Victory is by capturing more pieces than one’s opponent, or by hemming in the opponent’s pieces so that movement is impossible.

A more complex version of the rules from Gothic Green Oak Games

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Board
Period: 1400BC+

History

Also called Merrils, or The Mill Game, Morris has been played in various forms, for over 3,000 years. The oldest boards have been found in The Temple of Kourna in Egypt, and date from the 14th century B.C. A similar board was found in a neolithic burial in County Wicklow, Ireland. In the 13th century A.D. it appeared in the Spanish King Alphonso X’s “Book of Games.” It is most often played with 9 men, and simpler versions have been played with 5, or 6 men on a board with just two concentric squares. During the
14th century diagonal lines were added to join the corners of the squares and it was played with 12 men. This version was brought to the Americas by English settlers, but the 9-man version continues to be the most common variant.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 14th Century

History

Also called Merrils, or The Mill Game, Morris has been played in various forms, for over 3,000 years. The oldest boards have been found in The Temple of Kourna in Egypt, and date from the 14th century B.C. A similar board was found in a neolithic burial in County Wicklow, Ireland. In the 13th century A.D. it appeared in the Spanish King Alphonso X’s “Book of Games.” It is most often played with 9 men, and simpler versions have been played with 5, or 6 men on a board with just two concentric squares. During the
14th century diagonal lines were added to join the corners of the squares and it was played with 12 men. This version was brought to the Americas by English settlers, but the 9-man version continues to be the most common variant.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 14th Century BC

History

Also called Merrils, or The Mill Game, Morris has been played in various forms, for over 3,000 years. The oldest boards have been found in The Temple of Kourna in Egypt, and date from the 14th century B.C. A similar board was found in a neolithic burial in County Wicklow, Ireland. In the 13th century A.D. it appeared in the Spanish King Alphonso X’s “Book of Games.” It is most often played with 9 men, and simpler versions have been played with 5, or 6 men on a board with just two concentric squares. During the
14th century diagonal lines were added to join the corners of the squares and it was played with 12 men. This version was brought to the Americas by English settlers, but the 9-man version continues to be the most common variant.

Number of players: 2+
Type of game: Card
Period: 15th Century

History

One of the games mentioned by Bernadine of Sienne in his anti-gaming
sermon in 1440, and is one of the many ancestors to modern Blackjack (See also,
Bone-Ace), and was popular in both Spain and Ireland. It evolved into
Twenty-one in the 18th century.

Rules

The dealer distributes three cards; face down, to each
player, starting on his left. Starting with the eldest hand, each player may discard
one card (face-up), and replace it with top card on the deck, or the previous card on
the top of the discard pile. The goal is to come closest to 31. Aces are worth 11, Face cards are 10, and all other cards are worth their face value. A 3-of-a-kind

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Board
Period: 4th – 12th centuries

History

Hnefatafl is a member of the Tafl games family and is played on an 11×11 board. The attacker has 24 pieces and the defender has 12 plus their king.

Objective

The dark pieces (attackers) lay siege, their goal, is to capture the king. The light pieces (defenders) must break the siege and get their king to safety.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 1283

History

The game of Alquerque is an ancient game, the forerunner of draughts. A multitude of variants of Alquerque boards have been found indicating the existence of a whole family of Alquerque games and variations. Since it is not played today and because no definitive account of the rules is known, the following rules are conjecture based upon a partial description in the Alfonso manuscript of 1283.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 1500+

History

The game of Fox and Geese dates back to the middle ages and is unusual in that the sides are unequal. The sly fox attempts to capture the multitudinous geese. Meanwhile, the geese try to hem the fox in so that he can’t move.

At one time a popular pub game, these days Fox and Geese is less well known but it’s a game that is both historical and fascinating.

Number of players: 2+
Type of game: Dice
Period: 1552

History

Rules

Each player antes up a coin. Each player in turn rolls 2 dice. If they roll a 9 or a five they are out. Once all players have rolled a new round starts. The remaining players may increase the wager before rolling the dice. This continues until there is 1 remaining player at the end of a round. If all players go out in 1 round it is repeated

Number of players: 2+
Type of game: Dice
Period: 1552

History

Liar’s dice originated as a bluffing board game titled Dudo during the 15th century from the Inca Empire, and subsequently spread to Latin American countries. The game later spread to European countries via Spanish conquistadors. In the 1970s, numerous commercial versions of the game were released.

Rules

There are two main versions of liar’s dice. I have found a couple of references to the first version possibly being played by Vikings, while the second may have been played by pirates.
The second version is more commonly played at SCA events in the Crescent Isles.

Number of players: 5 originally. Optional rules for 3,4 or 6
Type of game: Card
Period: 1500s

History

Laugh and Lie Down (or Lay Down) is one of the most exciting entries in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games (c.1665) – first, because his is the only known description of an ancient game previously known only by name, and, second, because it is the earliest known example of a European game of the Fishing family (Cassino, Scopa, etc), which may be of Chinese origin. To this may be added that it is that rare thing, a game designed for five players (though it can easily be adapted to four). As Willughby rightly remarks, “There is no other Game at cards that is anything a kin to this.” Though more of a fun game than a brain-strainer, it requires a fair amount of alertness, observation, and quick-thinking to play well.

Number of players: 4
Type of game: Card
Period: 11600-1800

History

Europe, 1600s – 1800s

Reversis (no relation to the board game Reversi) is one of two probable ancestors of the Hearts family (with Coquimbert or Losing Lodam) and was one of the great games of continental Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It may be called Reversis because the aim of avoiding tricks in general and penalty cards, in particular, is the reverse of conventional trick games, though the name also denotes an exceptional slam bid which, like “shooting the moon” in Hearts, itself “reverses” the normal practice of the game.

Number of players: 2-4

Type of game: Boardgame
Period:

History

Dayakattai is a board game played from ancient times in Tamilnadu which is situated in south India. It is played by 2 to 4 persons at a time. It is a game of making your fate to lead the life.

This game increases the decision-making power from childhood according to the situation.

The game board contains 7 X 7 square boxes. The center box of all four sides is crossed, it’s the home for each player.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 1550-1295 B.C.

History

The Game of Twenty Squares is usually, like senet, associated with ancient Egypt. It was played there from the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C., and is often found on the underside of senet boards. Its name is unknown, but one Egyptian tomb inscription calls it “aseb”. This is not a native Egyptian word, and suggests that the game was an import.
This is supported by its resemblance to the much older Royal Game of Ur. The Royal Game of Ur also has 20 squares, with the same block of three rows of four squares at one end. The markings on Egyptian boards are laid out much like the rosettes on the Ur game, each special square being four positions distant from the last. In this, the Egyptian board looks like a version of the Ur game with its course somewhat “straightened out”.
The 20-square game in its Egyptian form was played elsewhere too. It was played in Cyprus, though Cyprus fell within the Egyptian empire. It was found in Mesopotamia, in the new form as well as the old, and as far east as India, from where it may have originated.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 2686 B.C. +

History

Senet or senat is a board game from ancient Egypt that consists of 10 or more pawns on a 30-square playing board. The earliest representation of senet is dated to c. 2620 BCE from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while similar boards and hieroglyphic signs are found even earlier, including in the Levant in the Early Bronze Age II period. Even though the game has a 2000-year history in Egypt, there appears to be very little variation in terms of key components. This can be determined by studying the various senet boards that have been found by archaeologists, as well as depictions of senet being played throughout Egyptian history on places like tomb walls and papyrus scrolls. However, the game fell out of use following the Roman period, and its original rules are the subject of conjecture.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: 2400BC+

History

The Royal Game of Ur is a game that was played in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest game boards date to about 2400 BCE, but the most famous, from which the game gets its modern name, come from the royal tombs at Ur, in ancient Sumer, which is in modern Iraq.

It was a very popular game in the past as boards have been found all over the Middle East and beyond, including Crete, even making it all the way to Sri Lanka! The game was also played in ancient Egypt as ‘the game of 20 squares’; all four senet boards in the tomb of Tutankhamun had this game on the other side of the boxes.