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.