Board Games of the World
By
H. L. Fourie
Copyright © 2009 by H.L. Fourie
Board Games of the World
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................1
Glossary....................................................3
Maps........................................................5
Board Games of Africa....................................5
Board Games of America...................................6
Board Games of Asia......................................7
Board Games of Europe....................................8
Race Games...................................................9
Senet.....................................................9
Royal Game of Ur..........................................12
Pachisi...................................................14
Parchis...................................................16
Ludo..................................................  18
Thaayam.................................................20
Yut..............Л......................................21
Patolii...................................................24
Zohn Ahl..................................................25
Bui.......................................................27
Puluc.....................................................29
Jungle....................................................31
Tabula....................................................32
Backgammon................................................34
Nardshir..................................................38
Ad Elta Stelpur (Chasing the Girls).......................40
War Games....................................................43
Alquerque.................................................43
Kolowisi Awithlaknannai (Fighting Serpents)...............45
Zamma.....................................................46
Fanorona..................................................48
Sixteen Soldiers..........................................49
Four-field Kono...........................................51
Board Games of the World
Surakarta...................................................52
Bizingo.....................................................55
Brax / Jinx.................................................56
Dablot Prejjesne............................................59
Seega.......................................................61
Ming Mang...................................................62
Queah.......................................................63
Reversi (Othello)...........................................64
Checkers / Draughts.........................................65
International Draughts......................................69
Shashki (Russian Draughts)..................................71
Bashne......................................................73
Frisian Draughts............................................75
Damone......................................................76
Dama (Turkish Draughts).....................................78
Makyek......................................................80
Konane......................................................81
Chess.......................................................82
Shatranj....................................................89
Courier Chess...............................................92
Gala (Farmers Chess)........................................95
Xiangqi (Chinese Chess).....................................99
Shogi (Japanese Chess)......................................103
Makruk (Thai Chess).........................................107
Tablut......................................................110
Fox and Geese...............................................113
Asalto......................................................115
Baqh Chai (Tigers and Goats)................................117
Pulijudam (Tigers and Goats)................................118
Leopards and Cows...........................................120
Adugo.......................................................121
Ringo.......................................................122
Games of Position.........................................;...125
Agon (Queen’s Guard)........................................125
Halma.......................................................126
Chinese Checkers............................................128
Hex.........................................................131
Salta.......................................................133
ouara oames or me wood
Dara.........................................................135
Five-field Kono..............................................136
Mu Torere....................................................137
Nine Mens Morris.............................................139
Morabaraba...................................................141
Go...........................................................143
Hasami Shogi.................................................146
Go-Moku (Renju)..............................................149
Rente........................................................152
Pah Turn.....................................................154
Conspirators.................................................155
Mancala Games..................................................157
Mancala......................................................157
Wari.........................................................160
Layli Goobalay...............................................162
Maruba.......................................................164
//Hus........................................................165
Gabata.......................................................167
Dakon........................................................168
Solitaire Games................................................171
Solitaire..................................................  171
Game List......................................................172
Further Reading................................................175
Clubs and Associations.........................................175
Index..........................................................176
Board Games of the World
Introduction
s book introduces you to many board games from all parts of the world that have been played * people of many different cultures and backgrounds across a time span of millennia. The з :-s' games date back to about 3500 B.C. and the most recent game, Rente, was invented by a . Gabrel in 1978. This is a book about the history, the boards, the rules, and the strategy of ~~ :ames, as well as ideas on how to build these game boards.
- :s a book for all ages, with a straightforward explanation of the rules for children, to ideas : instructing elaborate games boards. Some games have a simple set of rules that can easily - earned by younger children and these games will make interesting projects for the >.-oolroom. Learning a new game and competing with a friend provides an excellent challenge : «eep the mind active at any age.
> *=-.y of the games are known by several different names and wherever possible the local ames as well as the more common names for the game are listed.
"‘ts book divides the games into a number of categories according to the type of strategy : :tated by the rules of the game. These categories include race games, war games, games of .csition, counting games and solitaire games. Today these are considered abstract games - "nough when they originated the games may have represented real life situations like battles.
* race games the opponents compete by moving their pieces around a pre-determined track on -»e board. The first player to complete the circuit with all his pieces is the winner. During these ;ames, pieces may be captured, removed from the board and forced to start the circuit again. Race games include Backgammon and its predecessors including ancient games such as the Royal Game of Ur and Senet of Egypt. There are also running fight games such as Bui and Ad Elta Stelpur where the pieces are moved in laps on a circuit attempting to capture their adversary’s pieces.
in war games the players marshal their armies made up of pieces of different strengths in combat against each other. The objective is usually to capture the enemy King or all the opponent's pieces. War games include those played with equal forces such as Chess, Checkers or Draughts, and those played with unequal forces such as Tablut and Bagh Chai.
Games of position are those in which the location of a player's pieces on the board in relation to those of his opponent is of prime importance. In these games the players fight for control of regions of the board. Games of position include Achi, Nine Men’s Morns, Renju and Go.
Counting games include Mancala and its many variants. In these games the players distribute their counters along a fixed track and attempt to capture their opponent’s pieces by arriving at a particular position when the count is exhausted.
Solitaire games are those played by a single player.
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Board Games of the World
There are games such as Chess and Go that have great popularity both nationally and internationally while others like Friesland Draughts or Puluc are only played in small communities. Certain games like the Royal Game of Ur that are extinct in their lands of origin and are only played as curiosities. Many clubs and associations exist to organize competitions and promote the more popular games.
Several construction methods are described for each game. The simplest is to draw and color the grid for the board onto a piece of firm card. More elaborate techniques could include sewing and woodworking construction. This is where you can get really creative.
For younger readers, social studies projects can be brought to life by learning the games, customs and language of other cultures and having fun at the same time. Hopefully this book will inspire to you to start your own games club at school. Imagine what is like to be a teenage Zulu cattle herder in South Africa and have some spare time to play a game of Morabaraba with your friends, or young Tamil-speaking girl playing a game of Thaayam with your friend in Sri Lanka. How do you make your board and what do you use for your pieces?
Explore new games and other cultures and have fun!
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Board Games of the World
	Glossary
Advance capture	Capture of a piece by advancing to a square immediately adjacent to it. This is used in Fanorona.
Bear off Castling Column	To remove pieces from a backgammon board. A special move by a King and a Rook in Chess. See Figure 1.
Custodial capture Capture of a piece by trapping it between two of the opponent’s pieces.
Diagonal move Die	A move that is diagonal to rank and file as shown in Figure 1. The singular of dice. A device used to obtain a random number to advance a game piece, usually a cube marked with the numbers 1 to 6 on each face.
Dice Dice Sticks En passant En prise Fork File	Plural of die. Two or four-sided throwing sticks. Capture of a pawn that has made an initial two-square move. A piece is en prise when it is open to capture at the opponent’s next move. A simultaneous attack on two or more of the opponent's pieces. See Figure 1.
Intervention capture To capture by placing a piece between two of the opponent’s pieces so
Huff Long dice Long leap	that both the opponent’s pieces are captured. The removal of a piece that has failed to capture when it was able to do so. Two or four-sided dice. Also called dice sticks or throwing sticks. A jump by a piece over an opponent’s piece to land beyond it where there may be any number of vacant space on either side of the captured piece as •shown in Figure 2B.
Orthogonal move A move along a rank or file as shown in Figure 1.
Point Promotion	The intersection of two lines on a board. On reaching a certain rank a piece may be promoted and thereby acquire additional capability.
Rank	See Figure 1.
Replacement capture To capture by moving a piece onto a space occupied by the opponent’s
	piece.
Row Short leap	See Figure 1. A jump by a piece over an opponent’s adjacent piece to land on a space immediately beyond it as shown in Figure 2A.
Withdrawal capture To capture of a piece by moving away from a square immediately adjacent to it. This is used in Fanorona.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 2 Short (A) and Long (B) Leaps
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Board Games of the World
Maps
Some of the games described in this book are shown on these maps
Zamma
North Africa
Wan Ghana
Queah
Liberia Aware
Ivory Coast
Seega, Senet Egypt

. Gabata. Dabuda
Senterej
Ethiopia Bosh>
V Bao r
^nya G-b! ?
Leia, Dwong, L-
Baruma	So™1'3
Congo Bao- Endodol
Tanzania
Mulabalaba Njombwa, Zambia Tscuba
//Hus, Otjitoto Namibia
Maruba, Morabaraba South Africa
fanorona
Madagascar
Board Games of Africa
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Board Games of America
Board Games of the World
Board Games of Asia
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Board Games of the World
Chasing the Girts, Fox and Geese
Ard-Ri, Brax,
Draughts, Ludo, Tawlbrwdd Britain
Fidchell Ireland
Hnefatafl Scandinavia
Frisian
Bashne, Shashki Russia
Courier, Gala -
Germany
Agon. Conspirators,
France
Alquerque,
Board Games of Europe
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Board Games of the World
Race Games
Race games may be divided into two types, pure races and running fight games. In pure race games the opponents compete by moving their pieces around a pre-determined track on the board. The winner is the first player that completes the circuit with all their pieces. During these games, pieces may be captured, removed from the board and forced to start the circuit again. These games include Senet, Pachisi, and Backgammon.
In running fight games the pieces are moved in repeated laps over same circuit attempting to capture their opponent's pieces. Captured pieces are removed from the game. The winner is the player whose opponent no longer has pieces still remaining on the circuit. The running fight games include Zohn Ahl, Bui, Puluc and Ad Elta Stelpur.
All these games use various forms of dice such as six-sided cube dice, two or four-sided throwing sticks, cowrie shells, marked corn grains or knucklebones.
Senet
The game of Senet dates from the pre-dynastic days of ancient Egypt around 3500 B.C. It is the oldest known board game in the world. Many Senet boards have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs The Senet board consists of 30 squares which represent the 30 days of the month of Thoth, the first month in the ancient Egyptian calendar year. The first Senet square is the House of Thoth and represented New Years day. Six of the squares on the Senet board have special markings:
•	House of Re-birth (square 15) has an ankh
•	House of Happiness (square 26) has a hieroglyph for happiness
•	House of Waters (square 27) has water lines
•	House of Three Truths (square 28) has a countdown mark of 3
•	House of Re-Atoum (square 29) has a countdown mark of 2
•	Square 30 has the hieroglyph of the sun
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Board Games of the World
Rules
The original rules are not known but the games historians R.C. Bell and Timothy Kendall have each proposed a set of rules that can be used to play the game. Senet is a race game played by two players using the board shown in Figure 1. The pieces are moved along the path shown. The players take turns using four two-sided throw sticks to determine the moves.
Figure 1 Kendall's Rules - start of game
The following rules are based on those of Timothy Kendall:
One player has seven green pieces and the other has red pieces. At the start of the game each player’s pieces are placed alternately on the first 14 squares as shown in Figure 1. Four two-sided throwing sticks are marked on one side and when thrown the points are counted 1 to 5: one point for each side without a mark and five points if all four marks are visible as shown in Figure 2.
The players, starting with green, take turns throwing the sticks and advancing their pieces along the path shown above. Square 15 is the starting square called the House of Re-birth, shown by an ankh.
If a piece can reach a square already occupied by an opponent's piece, they have to exchange their positions unless the opponent s piece is protected by being adjacent to another opponent's piece along the path.
All pieces must land on square 26, the House of Happiness (per nefer), before continuing to the last four squares. A player must have an exact throw to land on the House of Happiness. If no forward moves are possible the piece is forced to move backwards. If no moves are possible the turn is forfeited. If an unprotected piece is attacked while on square 26 it must be exchanged with the attacking piece.
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Board Games of the World
There are dire consequences if a player is forced to land on square 27, the House of Waters (per mu). A piece forced onto the House of Waters loses any remaining throws. Once in the House of the Waters, a piece cannot be moved. To reactivate the piece, the player must either throw a 4, or move the piece back to the House of Re-birth and lose a turn. A player may try for a throw of 4 as often as they wish, but they get only one try per turn. If they give up after repeated tries, they can move to the House of Re-birth on their next turn.
A piece can be forced onto the House of Waters in two ways: If a piece occupies squares 28-30 and is undefended, and an opponent piece lands on the same square from the House of Happiness, the attacked piece moves to square 27, and not back to 26. If a player's only possible move is from square 26 forward, but a defended opposing piece occupies the desired square, the piece on square 26 moves to the House of Waters.
If a player lands on square 28, the House of Three Truths, an exact throw of three is required to then exit the board. If a player lands on square 29, House of the Re-Atoum, an exact throw of two is required to then exit the board. A player may have any throw value to exit from square 30.
The first player to remove all their pieces from the board wins.
Starting Squares
figure 3 Senet board: R.C. Bell's Rules - end of game and red wins
-e following rules are based on those of R. C. Bell:
. ~e player has ten green pieces and the other has ten red pieces. At the start of the game there ='e no pieces on the board. Four two-sided throwing sticks are marked on one side and when own the points are counted 1 to 5: one point for each side with a visible mark and five points all four sides showing no marks as shown in Figure 4
E player in turn throws the sticks, and puts one piece on one of the starting squares shown * - gure 3 according to the number of points thrown. Only one piece may be present on each ь. .are. so if a piece is already present on the square the turn is lost. A player may either add a piece to the board or move one piece with each turn. If a piece lands on a square already : _:ied by an opponent piece, the opponent is removed and must restart from the beginning.
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The first piece to reach the last square earns a bonus of five points and it fixes the goal of the game: that player's other pieces have to reach even squares (squares being numbered 1 - 30) whereas the opponent must reach the odd squares. When a piece has reached its last square, it cannot be attacked. The first player to have put all his pieces on his own set of squares wins the game as shown in Figure 3.
Variants
A possible variant of the game is to use 5 pieces per player.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing 2” by 2” squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters will serve as the counters. Short sticks or dowels of about 4" in length may be are cut in half lengthwise and marked on one side for use as throwing sticks. Alternatively, a five sector spinner can also be used instead of the throwing sticks.
Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur dates from 2600 B.C. It was discovered in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Wooley during his excavations at the city of Ur in Mesopotamia (modem day Iraq). In the early 1980s, Irving Finkel of the British Museum uncovered the rules of the game, long forgotten, by deciphering Sumerian cuneiform tablets.
Rules
The Royal Game of Ur is played by two players using a board consisting of 20 squares shown in Figure 1. One player has seven white stones and the other has seven black stones. Each player takes turns to throw three two-sided dice or throwing sticks that are marked on one side and move one of their pieces according to the number indicated by the dice.
| Dice with marks upwards	Count	|
	
	
	
	
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Board Games of the World
The goal is to move each stone along the 14-square path from the start square to the end and remove the stone from the board. The winner is the player who removes all their stones from the board first.
If a stone lands on a square marked with a star the player may roll again. After rolling the dice the player moves the stone forward the number of squares shown by the dice roll. When starting a stone the first count is onto the start square. A player may have more than one stone on the board at a time. If the stone of one player lands on a square occupied by the stone of the opponent while on the center row, the opponent’s stone is removed from the board and must start again.
Start square
Variants
Variants of this game use the same board and rules but different paths as shown below.
Figure 2 16-square path
Figure 3 20-square path
The winner is the first player to move all his stones along the complete circuit.
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Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing a grid of 2’ by 2” squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters will serve as the stones. Short sticks or dowels of about 4" in length may be are cut in half lengthwise and marked on one side for use as dice or throwing sticks.
A spinner with equal divisions also can be constructed to serve as dice. Cut an arrow and a circular disk from firm card. Mark sectors on the card and number them to represent the throw counts: 0, 1, 4 and 5 as shown in Figure 4. Fix the arrow to the center of the disk using a pin or small nail so that it can spin easily.
Figure 4 Four division spinner
Pachisi
Pachisi is a four-player race game that is the national game of India. It is an ancient game played by the Indian emperors. The name originates from the Hindi word pachis, meaning twenty-five, the largest score that can be thrown with the cowrie shells. In 1896 a modified version of Pachisi was introduced into England as the game Ludo. There is also an American adaptation called Parcheesi.
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Board Games of the World
Rules
Pachisi is a race game played on a board shaped like a cross using cowrie shells as shown in Figure 1. Each player has four pieces of colors yellow, black, red and green. Each player starts all his pieces on the center space called the Charkoni. Each player selects a different arm of the cross and then moves his pieces along the center row of their own arm and then around the board in a counter-clockwise fashion and then back up the center row of the same arm to reach the Charkoni again. The path for one player is show below. The goal of a player is to move all four of his pieces around the board and back to the Charkoni before his opponents.
Figure 1 Pachisi Board
The players take turns to throw six cowrie shells to determine the number of spaces to move their pieces. The number of cowries which fall with their openings upwards indicates how many spaces the player may move. The players may start with any throw value but must reach home with an exact throw.
Cowries with openings upwards	Squares to move
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6 and another throw
1	10 and another throw
0	25 and another throw
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Board Games of the World
A player must move his pieces before the next player starts his turn. With each throw the player must move one piece the number of squares indicated by the cowrie shells. If he has more than one throw in a turn he may move different pieces, but a single throw cannot be split between more than one piece.
If a player lands on a square occupied by that of another player, the piece belonging to the other player is captured. It must be removed from the board and restart from the Charkoni with a throw of 6, 10 or 25. A piece cannot be captured if it occupies a castle square marked by an X. The player making the capture gets another turn. Four of the castle squares are exactly 25 moves from the Charkoni. A common strategy is for returning pieces to stay on these squares, where they are safe from capture, until a 25 is thrown when they can finish the game directly.
Players may double up on any square to create a blockade. Pieces cannot be moved past the blockade. Doubled up pieces may be moved around the board together in a single throw.
Variants
Pachisi can also be played with two or three players. Several games have been adapted from Pachisi, including Parchis which is played in Spain and the game of Ludo that was introduced into England in 1896.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Alternatively a board can be made by sewing square colored or dyed cloth swatches together to form a cross-shaped panel that can be laid out on a table for play. Colored counters or poker chips can serve as Pachisi pieces.
A set of six two-sided throwing sticks marked one side can be used instead of the cowrie shells. A seven-sided spinner can also be used.
Parchis
Parchis is a four-player board game that is played in Spain. Parchis is a race game played on a track shaped like a cross and is adapted from the Indian game Pachisi.
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Rules
The game is played with one six-sided die. Each player has four pieces of the same color, red, yellow, blue or green. The goal of a player is to move all four of his pieces around the board from their home position along a track in a counter-clockwise direction to the central square before his opponents. The board and the track to be followed by the red player are shown in Figure 1. The spaces on the track marked with a small circle are “safe spaces’.
Figure 1 Parchis board
The players take turns to throw the single die to determine the number of spaces to move their pieces. Only one piece may be moved at a time. A roll of 5 allows the player to leave the home square and move out onto the safe space of the same color on the track. If a player has several pieces on the track he can move any one of them. If the player rolls a 6 he gets an extra turn. If the player rolls a 6 when he has four pieces out of the home square and on the track he can move 7 spaces
If a player rolls three 6's in a row, then the last piece he moved must be returned to the home square, unless the last piece moved was in the final colored ramp leading to the central square.
If two or more pieces of the same color are on a space this forms a blockade for the opponent’s pieces. A move by the opponent cannot be made if the value of the die would cause the advance of the piece to move beyond the blockade. A blockade on a home “safe space” will also prevent any pieces from leaving the home square if a 5 is rolled. The pieces that form a blockade may not be moved forward together. If a player rolls a 6 the blockade must be opened.
A piece may capture an opponent’s piece by landing on the same space as that piece. A piece cannot be captured if it is on a “safe space" or if it is part of a blockade. The captured piece is sent back to its home square. The player making the capture may also move any one of his pieces 20 spaces.
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Board Games of (he World
A piece may be captured if it is on the home “safe space” of an opponent and the opponent has rolled and 5 and leaves the home square.
The central square may only be reached after advancing the exact number on the die. If the remaining squares are less than that number the move cannot be made. When a piece reaches the central square the player may move any other piece 10 spaces.
The first player is to move all four of his pieces to the central square before his opponents wins.
Variants
Parchis can also be played with two or three players. An optional rule is that a blockade may only be made on a ‘safe space". A similar game called Parques is played in Columbia.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card Colored counters or poker chips can serve as Parchis pieces.
1  *
Ludo
Ludo (from the Latin “I play") is a two, three or four player board game adapted from the Indian game Pachisi and introduced in England in 1896.
Rules
The game is played with one die. Each player has four pieces of the same color, red, yellow, blue or green. The goal of a player is to move all four of his pieces around the board from their home square along a track in a clockwise direction to the central square before his opponents. The track to be followed by the red player is shown in Figure 1
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Board Games of the World
Figure 1 Ludo board
The players take turns to throw a single die to determine the number of spaces to move their pieces. Only one piece may be moved at a time. A roll of 6 allows the player to leave the home square and move out onto the first colored space on the track. If a player has several pieces on the track he can move any one of them. If the player rolls a 6 he gets an extra turn. A piece may not land on a square that already contains a piece of the same color. Either another piece must be moved or the turn is forfeited
A piece may capture an opponent's piece by landing on the same space as that piece. The captured piece is sent back to its home square. A piece may be captured if it is on the first colored square belonging to an opponent and the opponent has rolled a 6 and leaves the home square.
The central square may only be reached after moving the exact number on the die. If the remaining squares are less than that number the move cannot be made.
The first player to move all four of his pieces to the central square before his opponents wins.
Variants
These optional rules may also be used.
A player with no pieces on the board may bring their first piece onto the track on any roll.
If a piece were to land on the same space as another piece of the same color, the moved piece must instead take the preceding space.
Alternatively, if a player's piece lands on another piece of the same color, they form a blockade which cannot be passed by any opponent's pieces.
Doubled pieces may move half the number if an even number is thrown. For example, if a 4 is thrown the doubled pieces may move two spaces. A doubled piece can capture another doubled piece.	_____________
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Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Colored counters or poker chips can serve as Ludo pieces.
Thaayam
The game of Thaayam is very popular in southern India and Sri Lanka. The board may be marked out on the ground using sticks used as counters and cowrie shells or tamarind seeds as dice. This game is called by various names in different languages in regions of India.
•	Chauka Bara - Kannada - Mysuru region
•	Katie Mane - Kannada - Rural Mysuru
•	Gatia Mane - Kannada - Rural Mysuru
•	Chakaara or Chakka - Kannada - North Karnataka
•	Ashta Chemma - Telugu
•	Daayam or Thaayam - Tamil
Rules
Thaayam is a race game that can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players. Each player starts from a different home square or palace, the middle square of each side of the board. Players move their pieces starting at their home square along a counter-clockwise outer path followed by a clockwise inner path to the center square as shown in Figure 1.
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Each player takes turns to throw all four cowrie shells and move one of their pieces according to the number as indicated by the shells.
Cowries with openings upwards	Squares to move
1	I 1
2	2
3	I 3
4 (Chauka)	4 and another throw
0 (Baara)	8 and another throw
If a player’s piece lands on a square occupied by opponent’s piece, the opponent's piece is captured and is removed from the board and must start again. The attacking player gets an extra turn to play in which the same piece or another piece may be moved. Capture cannot occur on a home square. Any number of pieces of any color is safe from capture on a home square.
The first player to get all their pieces into the center square wins the game.
Variants
An optional rule is that a player must throw a chauka or baara before starting play.
Construction
A Thaayam board can be easily made by marking the grid on a piece of firm card. Use poker chips or counters as pieces. A set of four two-sided throwing sticks marked one side can be used instead of the cowrie shells.
Yut
Yut, also called Nyout or Yoot, is a two-player race game played in Korea. It was played as early as 1100 B.C. It is still widely played especially during the Korean New Year. The board may be made from paper or stitched cloth. These cross and circle games have found their way to North America, possibly from immigrants for north-east Asia, suggesting that Yut may be the ancestor of various games played by ancient Mayans. Similar circular and square boards have been found cut in stone in the ruins of Chichen Itza and Palenque in Mexico.
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Rules
The board consists of 29 points arranged in a circle or a square as shown in the Figures 1 and 2 respectively. There are five large points and 24 small points. Each player has four pieces called a Mai or a horse made of wood or stone which are moved in a counter-clockwise direction around the board entering and exiting the board at the points indicated. The Mais are usually black and white. The goal is to move all the Mais around the track.
Figure 1 Circular Yut board
Figure 2 Square Yut board
The Mais are moved according to the throw of four Yut sticks which are about 2"-10” in length, white and flat on one side and convex and blackened on the other. The throw counts are shown in Figure 3.
Do (pig)
Gae (dog)
Geol (sheep)
Yut (cow)
Mo (horse)
1
2
3
4 and an extra throw
5 and an extra throw
Figure 3 Yut sticks
The players each throw the Yut sticks to start and the player with the highest number takes the first turn. A throw of a four or five allows the player another throw which must be made before moving his Mai. He may also use the two throw values to move two Mais. If a Mai lands on one of the larger points it may take a shortcut across the horizontal of vertical arms of the cross as shown in Figure 4.
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Figure 4 Alternate Yut moves
If a Mai lands on another of the player's own Mais they may be doubled up and moved as one piece in any subsequent turn by the player. Three or four Mais may also join and move together.
if a Mai lands on a point occupied by an opponent, the opponent’s Mai is captured and must go back to the beginning and start again. When a player makes a capture he gets an extra turn. If a Mai lands on a point occupied by two or more of the opponent's Mais they are all removed from the board and must start again.
"he winner is the player to move all his Mais from the start to the end point and remove them from the board.
Variants
Yut can also be played with three or four players. If three play each has three Mais and if four play the players sitting opposite are partners with two Mais each. A player may move his partner’s Mais instead of his own.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Alternatively a board can be made by sewing circular swatches onto a cloth panel. Colored poker chips can serve as Mais. The Yut sticks can be made by cutting or splitting a dowel length-wise.
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Board Games of the World
Patolli
Patolli, the ancient race game of the Aztecs, is the oldest known game of America. Its similarity to the game of Pachisi suggests a common ancestor for these two games. Patolli was an Aztec gambling game. Unfortunately no Aztec description has survived, although there is a Spanish mention of the game dating from 1552. This account describes Montezuma watching his nobles playing the game. Large marked beans called patolli were used as dice. The name of the Aztec God of sport and gambling Macuilxochitl, also called God of the Five Flowers, was invoked when the Aztec gamblers threw the patolli.
The board was a thin mat with a diagonal cross reaching to its comers painted on it. The original rules are unknown but games historians have suggested rules that can be used to play the game.
Rules
The board is shaped like a cross with each arm made up of 16 spaces as shown in Figure 1. Twelve small stones are used as pieces, six red for one player and six blue for the other. The goal is to complete the circuit along all four arms of the cross.
Figure 1 Patolli board
Five large black beans called Patolli are used as dice. Each bean is marked on one side. The beans are thrown and the count is used to determine the number of spaces to advance one of the pieces as shown in the table below.
| Bean with marks upwards	Count	I
	
	
	
	
	
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Board Games of the World
The players agree to place a certain sum into a pool to be used during the game. Each player throws the Patolli and the player with the higher count starts. The players then take turns in throwing the Patolli and moving their pieces. Each player places one of his pieces onto the closest central space and moves the piece the number indicated by the thrown count in either direction around the board. After the first piece has been entered onto the board subsequent pieces may only be entered if a one is thrown. A player may move any of his pieces after the throw. If a player lands on one of the end spaces of a cross he gets another turn. Each piece must travel once around the board and is removed at the last space before the central spaces by an exact throw.
No piece may move onto a space occupied by another piece. If a player cannot move a piece because it will land on another piece he must pay one count to his opponent from the pool. If a player lands on any of the spaces marked with a black triangle he must pay two counts to his opponent from the pool. When a player removes a piece from the board he gains one count from the pool. The player who removes all his pieces from the board first wins the pool.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the cross on a piece of firm card. Alternatively a board can be made by sewing square colored or dyed cloth swatches together to form a crossshaped panel that can be laid out on a table for play. Colored counters or poker chips can serve as Patolli pieces.

Zohn Ahl
Zohn Ahl is a running fight game played by girls of the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma. The board is a circular circuit that may be marked out on the ground using small stones, on a piece of cloth, or on an animal hide. In the center of the circuit there is a flat stone called an Ahl onto which the dice sticks are thrown. There are gaps at the north and south which represent a river in flood and also gaps at the east and west which represent a dry gully. Zohn Ahl has similarities with the game of Yut. The pieces or runners make laps around the circuit acquiring counters from their opponents.
Rules
The game of Zohn Ahl is played by two teams of players on the board shown in Figure 1. There 40 stones on the board. Each team has one piece called a runner. These runners are moved on the points between the stones in opposite directions around the board (as shown by the blue arrows). Each team starts with four counters. The goal of the game is to acquire all the counters by having the runners make laps around the board.
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Board Games of the World
The runners are moved according to throw of four throwing sticks which are about 7” long, flat on one side and convex on the other. Three of the sticks have a red stripe running down the middle of the flat side, and the fourth, called a sahe has a blue stripe. Players from each team alternate in taking a turn to throw the four sticks against the Ahl to determine the throw count. The count is determined by the number of sticks that land with flat surfaces facing upwards as shown in Figure 2.
1 and if this is a blue stripe another turn 2
3 and if this is a blue stripe another turn 6 and another turn
10 and another turn
Figure 2 Zohn Ahl Throwing Stick counts
If a runner lands in the flooded river at the north end or south end of the board, the team must pay their opponents one counter and the runner must return to the start. If a runner lands in the dry creek at the east or west of the board the team loses a turn.
If a runner lands on the opponent’s runner, the team wins a counter and opponent's runner is sent back to the start. When the runner arrives back at the start the first lap is over and the team gains one counter from their opponents. The runner continues on the next lap using any remaining thrown count value.
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Board Games of the World
The team that acquires all the counters wins the game. If a time limit has been set for the game, •ie team with the most counters wins. The game can of course be played by just two players.
Construction
'ne board can be easily made by drawing the pattern on a piece of firm card of approximate size 20” x 20” using 2" spacing between the stones Checkers counters will serve as the :ounters and runners. The throwing sticks can be made by taking a piece of dowel and cutting it n half length-wise and then marking the flat side with red or blue stripes.
Bul
3ul is a running fight game from Belize. It is played on a track or road called a bej which is made bу placing 21 grains of corn on the ground about 2” apart. The points occupied by the pieces are ie spaces between the grains of corn. The length of the track is often increased by 4 or 5 grains :f corn if there are more players. The game is played with two teams and the players of each earn move their pieces in laps up and down the track attempting to capture their opponent’s pieces. The dice called bul are made from com grains.
Rules
The board is a track made up of 20 spaces as shown in Figure 1. The players are organized as •.vo teams. Each player has five pieces, usually small stones or sticks using any shape or color to distinguish between players. The teams sit opposite each other across the track and the home position of each team is to their left.
Team 1	Home
Home	Team 2
Figure 1 Bul board
The dice are four bul made from grains of com marked on one side. The throw count is determined by the number of bul with their marks showing upwards.
Bul with mark upwards Count
1	1
2	2
3	3
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Board Games of the World
4	4
0	5
The first players of both teams throw the dice to decide who starts the game. The player with the highest throw starts.
The players take turns and each player has two throws in a turn. He moves his piece after the second throw, advancing it according to the count of each throw, in any order. The teams enter their pieces at opposite ends of the track at their respective home positions and move in opposite directions (shown by the blue arrows in Figure 1). Each player can only have one piece on the road at any time.
When the piece has reached the other end of the track it moves back to the home position. When the piece reaches its home position it is again moved along the track to the other end. It is not necessary to throw an exact number to enter the home position.
If a piece lands on a space occupied by that of an opponent, the opponent’s piece is captured. The capturing piece is placed on top of the captured piece to form a stack. The capturing player starts to reverse back the track towards his home position with the captured piece. The player that has lost his piece must now enter another piece on his next turn. When the capturing player reaches the home position the captured piece is removed from the board.
If a piece lands on a stack consisting of a capturing piece and a captured piece, the stack is itself captured and now reverses back the track towards the home position of the capturing piece with the capturing piece on top. When this stack reaches the home position the pieces belonging to the partners of the. capturing player are “liberated" and returned to their owners, who may enter them again.
There may be any number of captures and re-captures. A stack may be captured by another stack. A piece may land on a space occupied by a partner’s piece.
If the first throw captures an opponent’s piece, the second throw counts towards moving the stack back towards his home position. If the first throw brings a piece back to its home position, the second can be used for the next lap along the track.
If a player has lost all his pieces, he continues to throw the bu/to help his partners.
The game ends when the winning team has captured all their adversary’s pieces.
Variants
There is a Guatemalan variant rule where a player that has lost all his pieces may not throw the dice any more.
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Board Games of the World
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the road on a piece of firm card. Colored counters may be used as the pieces. The bul can be made from dried corn grains marked on one side.
Puluc
Puluc is a two-player running fight game played by the Kekchi (Qeqchi) Indians of Guatemala. It is played on a track or road which is made by placing 10 corncobs on the ground about 3” apart. The pieces are placed on the spaces between the corncobs. The dice are made from corn grains with one side marked or scorched. Puluc is very similar to the game of Bul played in Belize.
The players move their pieces up and down the road attempting to capture their opponent’s pieces. The form of capture is unique because the captured piece is not immediately removed but instead is placed under the capturing piece and is then moved with the capturing piece to its home position where it then removed from the board.
Rules
The board is a track made up of 9 spaces as shown in Figure 1. Each player has five pieces, usually small stones or sticks using any shape or color to distinguish between players. The players sit opposite each other across the road and the home position for each team is to their left.
Figure 1 Puluc board
The four dice are made from four grains of corn marked on one side. The throw count is determined by the number of dice with their marks showing upwards.
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Board Games of the World
| Dice with mark upwards	Count	|
	
	
	
	
	
The first players of both teams throw the dice to decide who starts the game. The player with the highest throw starts.
The players take turns to throw the dice and move one piece along the road from space to space according to the throw count. The players enter their pieces at opposite ends of the road from the home position and move in opposite directions (shown by the arrows in Figure 1). A player may either move a piece or enter another piece onto the road. A player must not move a piece onto a space occupied by one of his own pieces.
When the piece has reached the other end of the road it is moved back to its home position again. When the piece reaches its home position it is available at a subsequent turn to be moved on another lap down the road. It is not necessary to throw an exact number to enter the home position.
If a piece lands on a space occupied by that of an opponent, the opponent's piece is captured. The capturing piece is placed on top of the captured piece to form a stack. On his next turn the capturing player starts to move the stack of pieces back along the road towards his home position the number of spaces indicated by the throw count. When the capturing player reaches the home position the captured piece is removed from the board.
If a piece lands on a stack consisting of a capturing piece and a captured piece, the stack is itself captured and now reverses back the road towards the home position of the capturing piece with the capturing piece on top. When this stack reaches the home position the pieces belonging to the capturing player are “liberated" and may be re-entered onto the track in later turns.
There may be any number of captures and re-captures. A stack may be captured by another stack
The game ends when the winner has captured all their adversary's pieces.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the road on a piece of firm card. Colored counters may be used as the pieces. The dice can be made from dried corn grains marked on one side. A spinner with five equal sectors can also be used as dice.
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Board Games of the World
Jungle
Jungle or Dou Shou Qi (the game of Fighting Animals) is a two-player game from China. It is also called Jungle Chess or Animal Chess. This a form of race game in which the objective is for ?ne of a player's pieces to reach and occupy the adversary’s den.
Rules
jungle is played on a 7 x 9 board with two rivers, and two dens and six traps as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Jungle board
Figure 2 Jungle moves
One player has eight blue animals and the other eight red animals. Each piece is marked with a symbol indicating the type of animal. Each animal has a different strength as shown below
Animal_________Strength
Elephant (E)	8
Lion (L)	7
Tiger (T)	6
Panther(P)	5
Dog(D)	4
Wolf (W)	3
Cat (C)	2
Rat(R)	I 1
'he players decide who will move first and then take turns moving one piece at a time All pieces may be moved one square orthogonally in any direction as shown by the blue arrows in Figure 2A. They may not be moved diagonally. Only one piece may occupy a square. No animal may move into its own den and no animal except for the Rat may enter the river. For example, this would limit the movement of the Wolf shown in Figure 2B.
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Board Games of the World
An animal may capture (eat) another animal from the opponent’s team that is of the same strength or weaker than itself, by moving onto its square. For example, a Wolf may eat a Cat but not a Dog. The captured animal is removed from the board. The exception to this rule is that a Rat may capture an Elephant since it may enter the Elephant’s ear and gnaw into its brain.
A Rat may enter the river squares where it is safe from attack by the other animals. It may not attack an Elephant from the river squares. Rats may attack each other in the river or on land.
When a Lion or a Tiger reaches a square at the edge of the river, it may on its next turn jump over the river in any orthogonal direction, and land on the square adjacent to the river as shown in Figure 2C. A Lion or Tiger may capture an opponent’s animal that occupies the landing square if it is of the same strength or weaker than itself. They may not leap across the river to a square that is occupied by an animal that is of greater strength. In addition, they may not leap across the river if they have to leap over a Rat as shown in Figure 2D.
The traps serve to protect the dens. A player may move his animals onto his own trap squares, but if he moves his animals onto his opponent’s trap squares they lose all their strength and may be captured by any of his opponent’s animals. When an animal is moved off the opponent’s trap square it regains its full strength.
The winner is the first player to occupy his opponent’s den with any one of his own animals.
Variants
The following variations to the rules are sometimes used. A Elephant may not capture a Rat. The Panther may only jump across the river in a sideways direction. The game of Animal Checkers is a simplified version with no traps or rivers, and only the Elephant, Tiger, Dog and Rat.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 7 x 9 grid of 1%” squares on a piece of firm card. The pieces can be made by marking Checkers counters using adhesive paper. The grid may be marked and painted onto a piece of wood of size 11 /г" x 131//.
Tabula
Tabula is a race game played by the Romans and ancient Greeks. It is believed to be the ancestor of backgammon and is derived from an older Roman game called Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, the game of twelve lines. The Emperor Claudius (45 AD) was very fond of game and had a board attached to his chariot. The Emperor Zeno (circa 450 AD) wrote a book about the game and became famous for a disastrous throw which caused him to go from a strong position to a very weak one.
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□или oainm m me rvona
Rules
Tabula is played by two players on a board of spaces arranged in two rows as shown in Figure 1. Each player starts the game with 15 pieces of different color. All pieces enter at square 1 and travel counterclockwise.
Figure 1 Tabula board
The players take turns to throw three six-sided dice. The throw can be shared between pieces. For example, a throw of 2, 3, 4 could be used to move one piece by 9, two pieces by 5 and 4 (or 6 and 3 or 7 and 2), or three pieces by 2, 3 and 4. If a player lands on a space occupied by an opponent’s piece the opponent’s piece is removed from the board and must start again. If a player has two or more pieces on a space the pieces on it cannot be captured. An exact throw is needed to remove a piece from the board. A player must use the whole of his throw if possible. Any part of a throw that is unplayable is lost.
The winner is the player who is first to get all his pieces off the board.
The famous disastrous throw of Zeno is shown in Figure 2. Zeno, playing white, threw 2, 5, 6 and was forced to break up his three pairs, as his men were blocked across the board. No other moves were possible, and the result is ruinous for white.
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Board Games of lhe World
Variants
Additional rules include:
1. No piece may enter the second half of the board until all the player's pieces have entered the first half.
2. No piece may leave the board until all pieces are in the last quarter of the board.
Construction
A tabula board can be easily made by marking the grid on a piece of firm card. Use poker chips or counters as pieces.
Backgammon
Backgammon is a two player board game that evolved from the ancient Roman board game Tabula. There is a well-known painting of backgammon players painted by Dirk Hals (1591-1656). A recent innovation to backgammon was the doubling cube introduced in the 1920‘s to enhance the element of skill in the game. Backgammon is popular internationally and competitions are organized by the World Backgammon Association. The game is called Trictrac in France.
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Board Games of the World
Rules
he game is played on a board that consists of 2 rows of 12 elongated triangles called points Each player has an inner table of 6 points and an outer table of 6 points separated by a bar as shown in Figure 1. The points in each player’s inner and outer table are numbered as shown
Black
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 White
Figure 1 Backgammon board
Black
12 11 10 9 8 7 65432 1
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 White
Figure 2 Initial positions
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Board Games of the World
Each player starts with 15 pieces arranged on the board as shown in Figure 2. The object of the game is to move your own pieces into own inner table and then bear them off the table. Black moves in the direction towards his own inner table shown by the black arrow, and white moves in the direction towards his own inner table shown by the red arrow.
To start the game, each player throws a single die to determine the player to go first. If the same numbers are thrown, then both players throw again until they throw different numbers. The player throwing the higher number now moves his pieces according to the numbers showing on both dice. After the first throw, the players throw two dice and alternate turns.
The number of points a player can move his pieces it determined by the dice throw. A player may only move a piece to an open point that is not occupied by two or more opposing pieces. The numbers on the two dice may be added to move one piece, or the individual numbers may be used as separate moves of two different pieces. For example, if a player rolls 5 and 3, he may move one piece a total of eight spaces to an open point (Figure ЗА), or he may move one piece five spaces to an open point and another piece three spaces to an open point (Figure 3B), but only if the intermediate point (either three or five spaces from the starting point) is also open.
Figure 3 Play options
If a player throws a double he plays the numbers shown on the dice twice and he may move any combination of pieces he chooses to make up the thrown numbers.
If both numbers can be played the player must use both of the thrown numbers (or all four numbers of a double). If only one number can be played, the player must play that number. If either number can be played but not both, the player must play the larger one. When neither number can be used, the player forfeits his turn. In the case of doubles, when all four numbers cannot be played, the player must play as many numbers as he can.
When a player has two or more pieces on a point, this is known a making the point. A player may have more than five pieces on a point. A point occupied by a single piece is called a blot. If an opposing piece lands on a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar. All pieces on the bar must be entered back onto the board before the player can resume moving other pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Entering from the Bar
if a player has one or more pieces on the bar, he must first re-enter those pieces onto the opposing inner table. A piece on the bar is entered by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice. For example, in Figure 4, if white rolls 4 and 6, he may only enter on the opponent’s four point.
Black	Black
White	White
Figure 5 Bearing off
Figure 4 Re-entry from the bar
if neither of the points is open, the player loses his turn. If a player is able to enter some but not all of his pieces, he must enter as many as he can and then forfeit the remainder of his turn.
After the last of a player’s pieces has been entered, any unused numbers on the dice must be played, by moving either the piece that was entered or a different piece.
Bearing Off
Once a player has moved all of his fifteen pieces into his own inner table, he may start bearing off. A player bears off a piece by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the piece resides, and then removing that piece from the board. Thus, rolling a 6 permits the player to remove a piece from the six point. In Figure 5, white has thrown a 3 and a 5 and so can bear off from the 3 point and the 5 point.
If there is no piece on the point indicated by the roll, the player must make a legal move using a piece on a higher-numbered point. If there are no pieces on higher-numbered points, the player is permitted (and required) to remove a piece from the highest point on which one of his pieces resides. A player is under no obligation to bear off if he can make an otherwise legal move.
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Board Games of the World
Doubling
A special die called a doubling die marked with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 on its six faces, is used. Before the game starts, the doubling cube is placed at the side or on the bar with the number 64 on top which indicates that the game is being played for one point or unit. If one player feels they have the advantage during the course of the game they may choose to double the stakes of the game by turning the cube so that the 2 is facing up. A player may double only on their turn and before they roll the dice.
The opponent may choose to decline the double if they feel they are unlikely to win the game and so forfeits the game, or they may choose to accept the double if they feel they still have a good chance of winning and play on for double the stakes. The first double may be made by either player but after a double is accepted, the player who took it is said to own the cube and is the only one allowed to re-double the stakes. There is no limit to the number of times the stakes can be redoubled.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the points on a piece of firm card.
Nardshir
Nardshir is a predecessor of backgammon. It is believed to have originated in ancient Persia and has been popular in the Arab world where it is also called Nard. It is a two-player race game.
Rules
The game is played on a board that consists of 2 rows of 12 spaces. Each player has a set of inner squares and a set of outer squares as shown in Figure 1. Each player’s squares are numbered as shown.
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board Games of the World
Black
Figure 1 Nardshir board
Black
Figure 2 Nardshir moves
Each player starts with 15 pieces arranged in groups of five as shown in Figure 1. The object of the game is to move your own pieces into own inner squares and then remove them from the board. Black moves in a clockwise direction towards his own inner squares shown by the black arrow, and white moves in a counter-clockwise direction towards his own inner squares shown by the red arrow.
To start the game, each player throws a single die to determine the player to go first. If the same numbers are thrown, then both players throw again until they throw different numbers. The player throwing the higher number starts.
The players now throw two dice to determine the number of squares to move his pieces. The numbers on the two dice may be added to move a single piece or the individual numbers may be used as separate moves of two pieces. For example, if a player rolls 3 and 4, he may move one piece three spaces to an open square and another piece four spaces to an open square i Figure 2B), or he may move one piece a total of seven spaces to an open square (Figure 2A), but only if the intermediate point (either three or four spaces from the starting square) is not blocked.
If a player throws a double he plays the numbers shown on the dice twice and he may move any combination of pieces he chooses to make up the thrown numbers as shown when white throws double two in C, D and E of Figure 2.
If a piece lands on a square occupied by an opponent’s piece it is captured and must remain on the square. The capturing player places his piece on the inner side of the board. As long as the capturing player's piece remains in that square the captured piece cannot be moved. The capturing player can move additional pieces onto that square, but his opponent cannot use that square and must jump over it. The square is effectively closed from his opponent. A square can also be closed from an opponent by placing two or more pieces onto a square.
Once a player has moved all of his fifteen pieces into his own inner squares, he may start removing his pieces from the board. A player removes a piece by rolling a number that corresponds to the square number on which the piece resides, and then removing that piece from the board. Thus, rolling a 6 permits the player to remove a piece from square six. In Figure 3. white has thrown a 3 and a 5 and so can remove pieces from square 3 and square 5.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 3 Removing pieces
If there are no pieces on a square indicated by the exact number of the roll or the higher of the two numbers rolled, the player can remove a piece from another lower numbered square. For example if white had rolled a five and squares 5 and 6 are empty, the player can remove a piece from any other inner square.
The winner is the first player to remove all his pieces from the board.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card.
Ad Elta Stelpur (Chasing the Girls)
Ad Elta Stelpur also known as Chasing the Girls is a two-player running fight game from Iceland.
Rules
The game is played on a board that consists of two rows of 12 spaces as shown in Figure 1.
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Board Games of the World
White	White
Figure 2 Moves
Figure 1 Chasing the Girls
Each player starts with 6 pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1. The object of the game is to move the pieces in laps around the board in a counter-clockwise direction attempting to capture the opponent’s pieces until one player has no pieces left.
To start the game, each player throws a single die to determine the player to go first. If the same numbers are thrown, then both players throw again until they throw different numbers. The player throwing the lower number starts.
The players now throw two dice to determine the number of squares to move his pieces. Only the number 1 and’6 are played, all other numbers are ignored. The numbers on the two dice may be added to move a single piece or the individual numbers may be used as separate moves of two pieces. For example, if a player rolls 1 and 6, he may move one piece a total of seven spaces to an open square (Figure 2A), or he may move one piece a six spaces to an open square and another piece one space (Figure 2B).
If a player throws a double he plays the numbers shown on the dice twice and he may move any combination of pieces he chooses to make up the thrown numbers as shown when white throws double one in C, D and E of Figure 2.
Only one piece is allowed on a space. If a throw results in a piece moving to a space occupied by one of the same color, the piece must be placed on the next available space beyond it.
If a piece lands on a square occupied by an opponent's piece it is captured and is removed from the board.
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Board Games of the World
Black	Black
Figure 3 Corner-rattler moves	Figure 4 Corner-rattler safety
When a player has only one piece left, that piece is known as a homaskella or corner-rattler. The corner-rattler may land only on spaces (or corners) numbered 1, 6, 7, and 12 marked with an X on each side of the board as shown in figure 3.
•	A roll of 1 moves the corner-rattler ahead to the next corner space.
•	A roll of 6 moves the corner-rattler ahead two comer spaces.
•	A roll of 1 -1 or 6-6 move ahead two corners or four comer spaces respectively.
•	Any other double allows the player to roll again.
For example, if the corner-rattler is on space 1 and 6-1 is rolled, the 6 moves the piece is moved forward two corners to space seven, and the 1 moves the piece forward one more corner to space twelve.
A corner-rattler cannot be captured if it is between two enemy pieces as shown in Figure 4. However, if on the following roll, one of the sandwiching pieces is moved using the roll of one die the roll of the other may be used to capture the corner-rattler and win the game.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. A backgammon board can also be used.
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Board Games of the World
War Games
War games can generally be divided in to those with equal opponent forces and those with unequal forces. In games with equal forces both sides have exactly the same type and number of pieces and have identical objectives. These games include Alquerque, Seega, Ming Mang, Checkers and Chess. In games with unequal forces each team has different numbers of pieces with different capabilities, and in addition the goals of each team are different. These games include Ringo, Tigers and Goats, Fox and Geese, Pulijudam, Tablut and other games of the Tafl family. Many of these games with unequal forces are also known as hunt games
Alquerque
Alquerque originated in the Middle East as the game Quirkat. Alquerque boards are carved into the stone slabs which form the roof of the great temple at Kuma, Egypt. The Arabic author Abu al-Faraj al-lsfahani mentioned Quirkat in his 24 volume work Kitab al-Aghani ("Book of Songs") c. 950 AD. Alquergue migrated to Europe when the Moors invaded Spain. It was named Alquerque (the Spanish form of El-Quirkat) in the Alfonso X Manuscript which was written between 1251 - 1282 at the command of Alfonso X, King of Leon and Castile. This game is the ancestor of modern.day checkers (draughts in the UK) when it evolved to being played on a chess board instead of the standard Alqerque board. The Madagascan game Panorama may have evolved from Quirkat.
Rules
The game of Alquerque is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. The board consists of a grid of 25 points with connecting lines. One player has twelve black pieces and the other twelve white pieces. The game starts with each player placing their pieces on the points in the two rows closest to them and in the two rightmost points in the center row. The goal of the game is to remove all the opponent's pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 1 Alquerque board
The starting player may be decided with the flip of a coin. The players take turns moving pieces as follows. A piece may be moved from one point to any adjacent unoccupied point along a line in any direction. A piece can jump over an opposing adjacent piece and remove it from the board if the point beyond it is empty. The player may continue to do as many repeated jumps as are possible in the same turn.
If after a jump a piece can make another jump it must do so otherwise the piece is considered “huffed” and may be removed by the opponent. If two or more pieces can make a jump in the same turn, the pieces that did not make a jump are not removed from the board provided a jump was made by one of the pieces that was able to make a jump. If no jump was made by any of the pieces that are able to do so, then all pieces that could have jumped are considered "huffed" and can be removed from the board.
A player wins the game when all the pieces of the opposing player have been removed from the board.
Variants
There are a number of possible additional rules.
1.	A piece cannot be moved backwards.
2.	No piece can return to a point it has previously occupied
3.	Once a piece has reached the back row it can only jump over opposing pieces.
4.	The game can also be won when the opposing player is unable to move.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces. The same board can be used for the Tigers and Goats game.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 10” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2". Colored marbles are then used as the Alquerque pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Kolowisi Awithlaknannai (Fighting Serpents)
Kolowisi Awithlaknannai or Fighting Serpents is a two-player game played by the Zuni people from New Mexico and Arizona in North America. This is one of the Stone Warrior or Awithlaknannai games played by the Pueblo peoples of the south-west USA. It may have been adapted from the game of Alquerque introduced by the Spanish Conquistadors in the 16th century.
Rules
The game is played on a board that consists of two rows of 16 points and a central row of 18 points. Each player starts with 23 pieces arranged with one row of 16 pieces and a set of 7 pieces on the center row as shown in Figure 1. The center point and the two end points of the board are empty.
Figure 1 Fighting Serpent board
The goal is to capture all the opponent's pieces. The players decide who will start. That player moves one of his pieces to one of the three empty points of the board. The players then take turns. One piece can either be moved in any direction to an adjacent vacant point along a line, or it can capture an opponent’s piece by jumping over it along a line in any direction onto a vacant point immediately beyond. The captured piece is removed from the board. A piece may capture additional pieces in a turn if it can do so.
A player wins when he has captured all his opponent’s pieces.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 116” spacing between the points. Checkers counters will serve as the counters.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 26” x 14” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles are then used as the pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Zamma
Zamma is a two player war game played across North Africa and regions of the Sahara. It is an ancient game and a Zamma board has been found at Kurna (c. 1400 B.C.). The game is similar to Alquerque. The game is called Srand (or Dhamet) in Mauritania. The black pieces are called men, and the white pieces are called women. The men are represented by short sticks and the women are pieces of camel dung.
Rules
The game of Zamma is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. The board consists of a grid of 81 points with connecting lines. One player has 40 black pieces and the other 40 white pieces. The game starts with each player placing their pieces on the points in the two rows closest to them and in the two rightmost points in the center row. The goal of the game is to remove all the opponent’s pieces.
Figure 1 Zamma board
The players take turns starting with Black. A piece may be moved diagonally or orthogonally from one point to any adjacent unoccupied point along a line in the forward direction (Figure 2A). To capture, a piece may jump over an opposing adjacent piece in any direction to vacant point immediately beyond it (see examples of captures in Figure 2B). The captured piece is removed from the board. A piece must make a capture if it is possible to do so. The player must continue to do as many repeated jumps as are possible in the same turn. If there is more than one capture sequence possible the piece must use the sequence that captures the most pieces.
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Board Games of the World
When a piece reaches the furthest rank it is promoted to a Sultan (S) or Mullah which can move any numbers of points in all directions (Figure 2C). If the piece, during a capturing sequence, makes an intermediate landing on the furthest rank, it is not promoted to a Sultan. A Sultan can capture orthogonally and diagonally forwards or backwards (see examples of Sultan captures in Figure 2D). It can move any number of points before the captured piece, jump it and land any number of points beyond the captured piece. This is the long leap similar to that of the King in International Draughts. A Sultan may be represented by two pieces, one placed on top the other.
Figure 2 Zamma moves and captures
A player wins the game when all the pieces of the opposing player have been captured.
Variants
Kharbaga is a variant of Zamma played on a 5 x 5 point board like the Alquerque board. The rules are the same as Zamma.
Construction
’he board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 1%" spacing between the lines.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 10” piece of wood and nen making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2". Colored marbles or Go pieces may be used as the Zamma pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Fanorona
Fanorona (pronounced fa-NOORN), also called Fanorama is a game played in Madagascar. It evolved from game Quirkat from the Middle East. There is a famous legend which relates to a Fanorona maneuver called telo noho dimy which you can sometimes use to win when you only have three pieces and your opponent has five. The legend of King Ralambo (1575-1610) of Malagasy tells that the King summoned his sons to his castle. He wanted to give his lands to the son who first arrived at his castle. However, the oldest son was busy trying to win a telo noho dimy situation and arrived too late to inherit his father’s kingdom. This game is also known as Fandango.
Strong	Weak
intersection	intersection
Figure 1 Fanorona board
Approach _ .	. .
Captured stone
Withdrawal capture
Captured stones
Figure 2 Fanorona capture
Rules
Fanorona is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. The board consists of a grid • of five rows and nine columns with 45 line intersections. One player has twenty-two black stones and the other twenty-two white stones. A line represents the path along which a stone can move during the game. There are weak and strong intersections. At a weak intersection it is only possible to move a stone orthogonally, while at a strong intersection it is also possible to move a stone diagonally. A stone can only move from one intersection to an adjacent intersection along a line between the two intersections. The goal of the game is to remove all the opponent’s stones.
The game starts with each player's stones placed on the intersections of the board. The game starts with white moving first. There are two kinds of moves, non-capturing and capturing moves. A non-capturing move is called a paika move and is just a move of a stone to an adjacent intersection.
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Board Games of the World
There are two kinds of capturing move: approach and withdrawal shown in Figure 2. The approach capture is done when the capturing stone is moved adjacent to the opponent’s stone in the direction of the capturing stone’s line of movement. The withdrawal capture is done when ’he stone adjacent to an opponent’s stone is moved away from the opponent’s stone. All stones Dehind the captured stone are also captured unless they separated from the captured stone by a space or the one of the capturing player’s stones. If a player is able do an approach and a withdrawal capture in the same move, the player must select which of the two sets of stones that are actually captured.
’he capturing stone is allowed to continue making captures (not necessarily in the same direction), but the stone is not allowed to arrive at the same position twice, and it is not allowed •d move a stone immediately back to the intersection it occupied before in the capturing sequence. If any capturing moves are possible anywhere on the board, then a capturing move must be made. If multiple captures are possible, the player can choose which to perform. Subsequent captures on the same turn are optional.
The game ends when one player has captured all stones of the opponent. If neither player can 20 this, the game is a draw.
Variants
’here also exist variants of Fanorona that are played on smaller boards. Fanoron-Telo is played :n a 3 * 3 board and is comparable with Tic-Tac-Toe. Fanoron-Dimy is played on a 5 * 5 board which is identical to the Alquerque board. Fanoron-Tsivy, which is usually called Fanorona, is : ayed on the 5 x 9 board.
Construction
’ 'e board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2" spacing retween the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the stones.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 18” piece of wood and men making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles may be used as the Fanorona stones.
Sixteen Soldiers
Sateen Soldiers is a two player game from India and Sri Lanka. The same board is used for the : a me of Leopards and Cows.
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Board Games of the World
Rules
Each player has 16 soldiers arranged on the board as shown in Figure 1 at the start of the game. The goal is to capture all the opponent's soldiers. The players take turns.
Figure 1 Sixteen Soldiers board
The soldiers can be moved in any direction orthogonally and diagonally along lines on the board to an adjacent vacant point. A soldier captures an enemy soldier by jumping over it in a straight line to a vacant point immediately beyond it. The captured solder is removed from the board. A soldier may make multiple captures by jumping over additional enemy soldiers. A soldier may not jump over one of his comrades.
The player that captures all the opponent’s solders wins the game.
Variants
There is a variant from Sri Lanka called Peralikatuma in which each player has seven additional soldiers which are placed on points of the triangle to his left.
The game of called Mogul Putt’han from India is played on a board shown in Figure 2 and refers a battle between the Moguls and the Pathans.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 2 Mogul Putt'han
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2" spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the soldiers.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles are then used as the pieces.
Four-field Kono
^our-field Kono is a two player game from Korea.
Rules
The game of Kono is played by two players using a 4 x 4 board which consists of a grid of 16 intersections or points with orthogonal connecting lines. One player has eight black pieces and the other eight white pieces. The game starts with the pieces arranged on the board as shown in Figure 1.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 1 Kono board
Each player takes turns by either jumping over one of their own pieces onto an opponent’s piece on a point immediately beyond to capture the opponent's piece, or by moving orthogonally to an adjacent empty point.
The objective of the game is to capture all of the opponent's pieces, or to force him into a situation where he cannot move.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2" spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 10" piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2". Colored marbles or painted pebbles may be used as the pieces.
Surakarta
Surakarta is named for the town of Surakarta in Java, Indonesia. This game is also known as Roundabouts.
Rules
The game is played on a board that consists of a 6 x 6 grid of 36 points shown in Figure 1. There are also eight circular loops that extend out from the board. The points second from each corner are connected by a circular loop and the points third from each corner are connected by a larger circular loop concentric with the first.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 1 Surakarta board
Each player starts with 12 pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1. They are usually stones and shells although black and white pieces may be used. The object of the game is to capture all .our opponent’s pieces.
To start the game, each player throws a single die to determine the player to go first. If the same numbers are thrown, then both players throw again until they throw different numbers. The player throwing the higher number starts.
The players take turns to move one piece at a time orthogonally or diagonally in any direction to any adjacent empty point as shown in Figure 2. A piece may not jump over another piece or land on another piece except in a capturing move.
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Board Games of the World
Figure 2 Surakarta move
To capture, a piece is moved orthogonally along a line over any number of unoccupied points including a circular loop until an opponent’s piece is reached as shown in Figure 3. The attacking piece takes its place and the captured piece is removed from the board. To capture, a piece must be moved along at least one circular loop and may be moved along more than one circular loop.
Figure 3 Surakarta capture
The winner is the first player to capture all his opponent’s pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card with 17?” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters can be used for the pieces.
Bizingo
Bizingo is a two player war game played on a triangular board. It was invented in the mid-1850s n the USA.
Rules
'he game is played on a triangular board shown in Figure 1. Each player has 18 pieces, 2 captains and 16 soldiers. There are two armies, red and blue. The red pieces are placed on the green triangles and the blue army is placed on the white triangles. The captains are either larger •*ian the soldiers or marked to distinguish them from the soldiers.
/ \.' \/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/ \
-gure 1 Bizingo board
-layers decide who should start first and then they take turns. A player may move only one of -eir pieces in a turn. A piece may be moved to any of the six adjacent vacant triangles of the same color.
-n enemy soldier is captured if it is surrounded on three sides by any of the enemy pieces - gure 2A). The captured soldier is removed from the board. This is a form of custodial capture.
-" enemy captain is captured if it is surrounded on three sides by enemy pieces, at least one of *'ich must be a captain (Figure 2B). The captured captain is removed from the board.
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Board Games of the World
If a piece is moved into a triangle surrounded by three enemy pieces it is captured by the enemy, unless the player captures an enemy piece in the process.
A piece is captured on the side of the board with only two enemy pieces, but with at least one of the two pieces being a captain (Figure 2C).
The winner is the player who is able to reduce their enemy to only two pieces.
Figure 2 Bizingo capture
Construction
The board can be made by drawing a set of nested triangles on a piece of firm card using 1%” spacing between the points. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces.
Home woodworkers can make a board by marking the grid on a piece of wood, boring dimples for the points and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be Г. Colored marbles may be used as the pieces.
Brax / Jinx
Brax or Jinx is two, three or four person war game invented in Britain in the mid-19th century.
Rules
A Brax board consists of a 9 x 9 grid of intersections or points shown in Figure 1. The lines between the points are either red or blue. For a two player game, each player has seven pieces, one gets seven red and the other seven blue. The object of the game is to capture all the opponent’s pieces.
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Board Games of the World
pieces can move in any direction along a line to a vacant point. The number of points that a piece can move depends on the color of the lines. If a piece moves along a line of different color, t may only move to an adjacent vacant point, as in the case of a red piece moving along a red me. If a piece moves along a line of the same color, it may be moved either one or two points. If the piece is moved two points it may change direction but must stay on a line of the same color. 3ossible moves are shown in Figure 2.
A player captures an opponent's piece when his piece is moved to a point occupied by the opponent’s piece. The captured piece is removed from the board. It is not required that a player rapture an opponent's piece if he is able to do so. However, a player can be forced to move his piece if it is liable to capture. If a player makes a move to threaten the opponent’s piece with capture, he calls out “Jinx" and forces his opponent to move the threatened piece in his next jm. If more than one piece is threatened the opponent may select which piece is to be moved. The threatened piece may move in the normal fashion and may also capture any opponent's piece including the one threatening it.
When one player has one piece left and the other two, they can no longer jinx each other. The .-.inner is the player who captures all his adversary’s pieces
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Board Games of the World
Figure 2 Brax moves
Variants
Four players can also play Brax with three pieces each and use the starting arrangement shown in Figure 3. They take turns in the order 1 to 4. Two of the players use pieces marked with stars. A player can only jinx the opponent who plays immediately after him. The first player to lose three pieces withdraws from the game leaving other players to continue. The winner is the last player with pieces remaining on the board.
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Board Games of the World
Three-player Brax uses the starting arrangement shown in Figure 4. One player has five pieces and the other two players have three pieces. The player with five pieces starts and they play in the order 1 to 3 shown in Figure 4. After his first turn the player with five pieces may move two different pieces per turn. Both his opponent’s may jinx him and if two of his pieces are jinxed he must move both of them from threatened positions on his next turn. The winner is the last player with pieces remaining on the board.
Figure 4 Three-player Brax
Make your own board
A Brax board can be easily made by drawing the grid with 2” spacing between the lines on a piece of butcher's paper. Checkers counters can be used for the pieces.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Brax board by painting the grid on a piece of wood of size 20”
x 20" x Г. The pieces can be fashioned by cutting Г sections dowel.
Dablot Prejjesne
Dablot Prejjesne is a two player game played only by Laplanders (the Sami people) of northern Sweden. The game is also called Dablo and Dablot Prejessne means "To play Dablo on a board". The game depicts a struggle between a Lapp king, his prince and a Landlord and his son. The goal of the game is to capture all the opponent’s pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Rules
Dablot Prejjesne is played by two players on a grid that has 72 points of intersection as shown in Figure 1. The white army consists of one Lapp king, one Lapp prince and 28 Lapp warriors. The black army has one Landlord, one Landlord's son and 28 peasants.
Figure 1 Dablot Prejjesne board
All pieces move in exactly the same manner. A player may move a one piece at a time in any direction from its current position along a line on the board to another vacant point; that is orthogonally or diagonally, forwards or backwards.
A piece captures an enemy piece by jumping over it along a line onto a vacant point beyond it. The captured piece is removed from the board. Multiple captures are possible in a single turn. A player is not compelled to make a capture if one is possible. Pieces can only capture each other if they are of the same rank or lower. The Lapp king and Landlord have the highest rank, followed by the Lapp prince and Landlord’s son and then the warriors and peasants. Thus the Lapp king and the Landlord can capture each other and any other piece on the board.
The winner is the player who captures all his opponent's pieces. A player can also win if he is able to completely surround the other player so he is unable to move.
If both players have only one piece left of equal power, either, the Lapp prince and the Landlord’s son, or a Lapp warrior and a peasant, then one player may call for one-on-one combat. The opponent must accept and then both pieces must be moved in the direction of their opponent until one is captured. This rule avoids an endless and futile chase.
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Board Games of the World
Construction
A Dablot Prejjesne board can be easily made by drawing a grid of Г squares on a piece of firm card.
Seega
Seega is an ancient Egyptian two-player game that is still played today in the rural Egypt. It is usually played on a 7 x 7 board but 5 x 5 and 9x9 boards are also used.
Rules
Each player has 24 pieces or Dogs and the goal of the game is to capture your opponent’s Dogs. The game is played in two phases; the first phase is considered the heart of the game where the most skill is needed. The game starts with each player placing two Dogs on the board as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Seega board
The first phase starts with the players taking turns beginning with white to place two Dogs at a • me on any square but the center square. This is repeated until all the Dogs have been placed on the board and only the center square is vacant.
in the next phase of the game the players move one Dog at a time one square orthogonally but not diagonally beginning with black. The center square may be used in this phase. A Dog is captured and removed from the board if it is orthogonally sandwiched between two of the opponent’s Dogs (custodial capture). It is possible to capture several Dogs with a single move as shown in Figure 2. A Dog is not captured if it is moved between two of the opponent’s Dogs in addition a Dog is not captured if it is between two opponent's Dogs in the initial layout. A ; layer that makes a capture plays again.
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Board Games of the World
If a player is completely blocked and is unable to move, the blocked-in player is allowed to remove any one of the opponent's pieces to clear a path. This situation usually arises only within the first few moves of the game.
The winner is the player who captures all his opponent's Dogs.
Construction
A Seega board can be easily made by drawing a grid of 1%* squares on a piece of firm card.
Ming Mang
Ming Mang is a Tibetan two player game played on boards of various sizes most commonly 8 x 8. Ming Mang may be played on a Go board. The goal of the game is to capture or block all the opponent’s pieces.
Rules
For the 8 x 8 game each player starts with 14 pieces placed on the board as shown in Figure 1. For other board sizes a similar starting arrangement is used. A pile of extra pieces will be needed to replace pieces captured from the opposing player.
The players take turns to move one piece orthogonally to any vacant position on the board. A piece cannot jump another piece.
A piece is captured if it is flanked by two opposing pieces along a row or column. Any number of contiguous pieces in a straight line may be captured in this manner with an opposing piece at each end as shown in Figure 2. When the capture happens all the captured pieces are replaced by pieces of the capturing player.
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Board Games of the World
If a player is completely blocked and is unable to move, the blocked-in player is allowed to remove any one of the opponent's pieces to clear a path. This situation usually arises only within the first few moves of the game.
The winner is the player who captures all his opponent’s Dogs.
Construction
A Seega board can be easily made by drawing a grid of 1 %" squares on a piece of firm card.
Ming Mang
Ming Mang is a Tibetan two player game played on boards of various sizes most commonly 8 x 8. Ming Mang may be played on a Go board. The goal of the game is to capture or block all the opponent’s pieces.
Rules
For the 8 x 8 game each player starts with 14 pieces placed on the board as shown in Figure 1.
For other board sizes a similar starting arrangement is used. A pile of extra pieces will be
The players take turns to move one piece orthogonally to any vacant position on the board. A piece cannot jump another piece.
A piece is captured if it is flanked by two opposing pieces along a row or column. Any number of contiguous pieces in a straight line may be captured in this manner with an opposing piece at each end as shown in Figure 2. When the capture happens all the captured pieces are replaced by pieces of the capturing player.
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Board Games of the Wodd
A player may move a piece between two opposing pieces without being captured. However, if the opposing player then moves one of the flanking pieces away in any direction, on the next move he may return to the original position and capture the piece.
Pieces at the corners of the board cannot be captured. Corners are key positions and should not be lost. A player cannot make a move that repeats a previous position.
A player wins when he has captured or blocked all of the opponent’s pieces.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters, coins or buttons will serve as the pieces.
Queah
Queah is a two-player game from Liberia played on a board of 13 diagonally arranged squares shown in Figure 1. The board is sometimes made of interwoven twigs. Sticks are used as the pieces, with one side having the top cut aslant for the 'men', the other having the tops cut straight for the 'women'.
Figure 1 Queah board
Rules
The goal of the game is to capture all the opponent's pieces. Each player has ten pieces, white or black, four of which are initially placed on the board as shown in Figure 1. The remaining six pieces are kept in reserve next to the board. The players take turns to move one piece or to capture an opponent’s piece. A piece may be moved diagonally to an adjacent vacant square
A piece may capture an opponent’s piece by jumping over it in a diagonal direction onto a vacant square immediately beyond it. Only one of the opponent’s pieces can be captured per turn. The captured piece is removed from the board
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Board Games of the Wortd
If a player’s piece has been captured, then the player at the beginning of their next turn must take one piece from their reserve, and place it on any vacant square. A player’s number of pieces on the board must always be restored to four, unless the player has exhausted their reserve.
A player that captures all their opponent’s pieces wins the game.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid of 1!4“ squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters, coins or buttons will serve as the pieces.
Reversi (Othello)
Reversi is a two player board game invented in England in 1883 by the Englishman Lewis Waterman, and was popular in England at the end of the 19th century. The modern rules, now universally accepted, originated in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan in the 1970s; when the game was renamed Othello, and was registered as a trademark by the Japanese game company Tsukuda Original. The name refers to Shakespeare’s play Othello, the Moor of Venice and the conflict between the Moor Othello and Iago. The object of the game is to control more spaces on the board than your opponent does.
Rules
The game is played on an 8 x 8 square board. There are 64 pieces, black on one side and white on the other.
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Board Games of the World
Each player starts with 32 pieces. Initially the board is empty and black starts by placing one piece on any of the four center squares. White in turn places once piece on any of the three remainder center squares, followed by black and then white resulting in possible arrangements shown in Figure 1.
Next players in turn place one piece on the board at a time so that one or more of the opponent’s pieces are sandwiched between two of the player's own pieces either orthogonally or diagonally. The sandwiched pieces are flipped over or reversed. A piece may be flipped over several times during a game.
A piece that is sandwiched when a captured piece is reversed is not itself captured. For example, when white plays at X in Figure 2, he captures along a both an orthogonal line and a diagonal line resulting in the situation in Figure 3. Although the black piece Y is now sandwiched is not captured.
A play is valid only if it captures one or more of the opponent’s men. If a player cannot make a valid move he loses his turn. When all 64 pieces are on the board, or when both players cannot make a valid move, the game is over and the player with the most pieces wins the game.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 squared grid of V/i" squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers can be marked with colored adhesive dots or painted with different colors on each side to serve as the pieces.
Checkers / Draughts
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Board Games of the World
Called Checkers in the USA and Canada, Draughts in the UK and Dams in Scotland, this is an ancient game. It is believed to have evolved from the game Alquerque around 1100. It was once called Fierges and the pieces became known as "dames" when that name was also used for the Chess queen. The compulsory rule forcing a player to take whenever possible was introduced in France around 1535 and the resulting new game being called Jeu Force. Today it is called Jeu De Dames in France. There are records of it being played in Britain in the 16th century. Today is very widely played around the world. Draughts is also called dames, darnas, damenspiel, or a similar term that refers to ladies.
The print shown above is from a French 1678 calendar with King Louis XIV (left) playing draughts against the Spanish king.
The family of draughts may be divided into two groups based on how promoted (or crowned) pieces may be moved; these are short draughts and long draughts. In short draughts games, a promoted piece can only move one square at a time, and can only do a short leap or jump, starting and finishing adjacent to the square of the captured piece. In long draughts, a promoted piece moves like a chess Bishop and can perform long leaps or jumps, jumping one or more unoccupied squares on either side of the captured piece. The variant of checkers commonly played in the USA and the UK is a form of short draughts.
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Board Games of the World
Rules
Checkers is played on 8 x 8 checkered board of 64 squares. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in the right-hand comer. Each player has 12 men usually black and red or white which are placed on the dark-squares on the three back rows (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Checkers board
Figure 2 Multiple jump
Play starts with one player holding a piece of each color in the clenched fists and offering them to his opponent. The opponent chooses a fist and must play with the revealed color. The players take turns with black starting first. A piece can only move forward diagonally one square at a time.
A piece may capture an opponent’s piece by jumping over it in a forwards direction onto a vacant square immediately beyond it (short leap). The captured piece is removed from the board. A piece can capture multiple times in one turn but only in the forwards direction (Figure 2). If a player is able to capture an opponent’s piece he must do so. If this is not done the opponent is entitled to ‘huff and remove the piece that could have made the capture. The player must huff immediately before making his own move otherwise the opportunity to huff is lost. If a player is able to capture with more than one of his pieces he cannot be huffed if he uses one of those pieces to capture an opponent’s piece.
Any piece that reaches the opponent’s back rank becomes a King (crowned) by placing another piece of the same color on top of the successful piece. A King can move diagonally forwards and backwards. A King may capture an opponent’s piece or King by jumping over it onto a vacant square immediately beyond the captured piece. A King can change direction forwards and backwards when capturing two or more pieces. A normal piece may capture a King.
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Board Games of the World
Variants
The most common variants of short draughts played today are the versions played on an 8 x 8 board known as Checkers in the USA and as Draughts in the UK. Variants of long draughts include International Draughts which is played on a 10 x 10 board. Long draught varieties played on an 8 x 8 board include Spanish Draughts, Shashki (Russian Draughts) and Pool Checkers. The table below provides a brief summary of the many varieties of draughts and their characteristics. The ‘Promote or capture’ column refers to whether a piece on reaching the furthermost row must stop and be promoted, or if possible, capture backwards without promotion.
Name	Board Size	Piece s / side	Short / Long	Promote or capture	Capture by unpromoted piece
Checkers/Draught s	8x8	12	Short	Promote	Forwards only
Dama (Turkish)	8x8	16	Short	Promote	Fwd & sideways
Dama (Italian)	8x8	12	Short	Promote	Forwards only
Dama (Spanish)	8x8	12	Long	Promote	Forwards only
Damone (Italian)	8x8	8	Short	Promote	Varies
Shashki (Russian)	8x8	12	Long	Promote & capture	Fwd & backwards
Bashne	8x8	12	Long	Promote & capture	Fwd & backwards
Damenspiel (German)	8x8	12	Long	Promote	Forwards only
Pool Checkers	8x8	12	Long	Promote	Forwards only
International	10x 10	20	Long	Capture	Fwd & backwards
Frisian	10x 10	20	Long	Capture	Fwd & backwards
Canadian	12x 12	30	Long	Capture	Fwd & backwards
Diagonal Checkers is played to the same rules described previously but using the starting configuration shown in Figure 3 and Kings being crowned on the squares marked with an X. Another diagonal checkers variant is to play with nine pieces as shown in Figure 4 with Kings only being crowned on the three opposite squares.
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Figure 3 Diagonal Checkers
Figure 4 Diagonal checkers with 18 pieces
Pool Checkers is played mostly in the south-eastern US and differs from Checkers in several ways. The pieces may move forwards and backwards. A player must capture an opponent's checker when possible (both forward and backward). Repeated captures are possible and the checkers are not removed until all jumps are completed and the player’s hand is removed from nis checker.
A checker that reaches the far side of the board is promoted to a King. However, if it reaches the far side by means of a jump, and is able to jump backward to capture another piece, it must do so and does not become a King.
A King can move diagonally any number of vacant squares like a Bishop in Chess. A King can use the long leap to capture by moving diagonally forwards or backwards in any direction any cumber of vacant squares and then jumping over an enemy checker to any vacant square beyond the captured checker. The King may continue to capture on the same line, or by turning at a right angle to another diagonal line. A King may never jump over checkers of the same color.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of 1%” squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces.
International Draughts
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International Draughts is also known as Polish draughts or Continental draughts. The introduction of the 10 x 10 Draughts board is believed to have occurred in the late 1600s in Holland and was later introduced into France. Today it is mainly played in the France. Holland, Belgium, some eastern European countries, parts of Africa and parts of the former USSR.
Rules
International draughts is played on 10 x 10 checkered board. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in the right-hand corner. Each player has 20 pieces usually black and red or white which are placed on the dark-squares on the four back rows (Figure 1). The goal is to capture as many of your opponent's pieces as possible and to immobilize your opponent’s pieces.
Figure 1 International Draughts board
Figure 2 International Draughts moves
The players take turns with black starting first. A piece can only move forward diagonally one square at a time (Figure 2A).
A piece captures by jumping diagonally either forwards or backwards over by a single opponent’s piece onto a vacant square immediately beyond it (Figure ЗА). If a player is able to capture an opponent’s piece he must do so. If this is not done the opponent is entitled to ‘huff and remove the piece that could have made the capture. The player must huff immediately before making his own move otherwise the opportunity to huff is lost.
Any piece that reaches the opponent’s back rank becomes a Queen (Dame). This does not apply if the piece reached the back rank by a capture and there are other pieces than can still be : stored A Queen can move diagonally any number of vacant squares like a Bishop in Chess F gure 2B). The Queen captures by moving diagonally forwards or backwards in any direction art. number of vacant squares and then jumping over an enemy piece to any vacant square
. ond the captured piece (Figure 3B). This is a long leap.
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Figure 3 International Draughts capture
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 10x10 grid of 2" squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces.
Shashki (Russian Draughts)
Shashki or Russian draughts is mainly played in Russia, countries of the former USSR and Israel. Uncrowned pieces are called shashka and a crowned piece is called a dam.
Rules
Shashki is played on 8 x 8 checkered board. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in the righthand corner. Each player has 12 pieces usually black and red or white which are placed on the dark-squares on the three back rows (Figure 1). The goal is to capture all your opponent s pieces.
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Figure 1 Shashki board
Figure 2 Shashki moves
The players take turns with white starting first. A piece can only move forward diagonally one square at a time (Figure 2A).
A piece captures by jumping diagonally either forwards or backwards over by a single opponent’s piece onto a vacant square immediately beyond it (Figure ЗА). If a player is able to capture an opponent's piece he must do so. If this is not done the opponent is entitled to ‘huff and remove the piece that could have made the capture. The player must huff immediately before making his own move otherwise the opportunity to huff is lost.
Any piece that reaches the opponent's back rank becomes a King. If, when it reaches the back rank, a piece is still able to capture opponent’s pieces, it becomes a King and may continue to capture those pieces. A King can move diagonally any number of vacant squares like a Bishop in Chess (Figure 2B). A King may jump diagonally forwards or backwards over a single opponent’s piece and land on any vacant square beyond the captured piece (Figure 3B).
If the same position is encountered three times the game results in a draw. If there are three Kings against a single King, the player who has the three Kings must win within 16 moves otherwise the game results in a draw.
Figure 3 Shashki capture
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Construction
’he board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of 2" squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces.
Bashne
Bashne or Bashnya evolved from Shashki or Russian draughts in Russia. It has an interesting feature where captured pieces are not removed the board but instead become part of a stack of captured pieces called a tower. In fact, another name for Bashne is “The game of towers”. The game Lasca mentioned in a book by Emanuel Lasker in 1911 is derived from Bashne. It is played in a 7 x 7 board and also uses towers of pieces.
Rules
Bashne is played on an 8 x 8 checkered board. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in the righthand corner. Each player has 12 pieces usually black and red or white which are placed on the dark-squares on the three back rows (Figure 1). The goal is to capture all your opponent's pieces.
Figure 1 Bashne board
Figure 2 Bashne moves
The players decide who will start and then the players take turns. A piece can move forwards or backwards diagonally one square at a time (Figure 2A).
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A piece captures by jumping diagonally either forwards or backwards over an opponent's piece onto a vacant square immediately beyond it. Several pieces may be captured in a turn jumping forwards or backwards to do so. The captured piece is not removed from the board but instead it is placed beneath the capturing piece to form a tower or column (Figure ЗА). If a piece captures several pieces in a turn all the captured pieces are placed beneath the capturing piece (Figure 3B). Thus all 24 pieces remain on the board for the entire game.
Towers may also be captured. If a normal piece jumps over a tower onto a vacant square immediately beyond it the tower is captured. Only the top piece of the tower is placed beneath the capturing piece (Figure 3C). The stack beneath the captured piece is freed and continues to move as a single piece. Several towers may be captured in a turn, and thereby capture and free several stacks of pieces.
When a piece reaches the furthermost rank it is promoted to a King A King is distinguished from other pieces by a mark. This is done turning the piece over to show a marked underside. A tower can also be promoted and the top piece of the tower is turned over to show the mark. If, when it reaches the back rank, a piece is still able to capture opponent's pieces, it becomes a King and may then immediately continue to capture those pieces.
A King can move diagonally any number of vacant squares like a Bishop in Chess (Figure 2B). A King may jump diagonally forwards or backwards over an opponent’s piece or tower and land on any vacant square beyond the captured piece (Figure 3D). The captured piece is placed beneath the King.
It is not necessary for a player to capture an opponent's piece if he is able to do so.
The winner is the player who has captured all his opponent’s pieces or blocked them so they cannot move.
Figure 3 Bashne capture
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of 2” squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters which are marked with a colored adhesive dot on one side will serve as the pieces.
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Frisian Draughts
Frisian Draughts is played in Holland and derives its name from the northern province of Friesland. It is also known by its Frisian name of Oer Alles meaning “over everything" which relates to the unusual orthogonal capture. The game was first mentioned in a book by Swaanenburg printed in Amsterdam in 1725. The game is popular in Holland and club -hampionships are organized by the Frisian Draughts Association.
Rules
rnsian draughts is played on 10 x 10 checkered board. All the play takes place on the dark-i :>ored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in ne right-hand corner. Each player has 20 pieces usually black and red or white which are : faced on the dark-squares on the four back rows (Figure 1). The goal is to capture as many of >our opponent’s pieces as possible and to immobilize your opponent's pieces.
* jure 1 Frisian Checkers board
Figure 2 Frisian checkers moves
=. starts with one player holding a piece of each color in the clenched fists and offering them - - s opponent. The opponent chooses a fist and must play with the revealed color. The players Ae turns with black starting first. A piece can only move forward diagonally one square at a »~e (Figure 2A).
S«5ces may capture diagonally forwards and backwards and also orthogonally (Figure ЗА). 5  :e light-colored squares are not used, this means that a piece may jump over an opponent’s >?ce orthogonally to land on a square four away from its original position. Captured pieces may v be removed until the play is complete and the player’s hand has been removed from the Yrard.
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A piece is crowned and becomes a King or Wolf if it reaches the furthest rank. The King is represented by a stack of two pieces. The move must finish on the back rank; if a piece reaches the furthest rank during a capture move but it must continue jumping backwards and it does not become a King. The King moves diagonally forwards and backwards any number of vacant squares (Figure 2B) like a Bishop in Chess. The King captures by moving diagonally or orthogonally in any direction any number of vacant squares and then jumping over an enemy piece to any vacant square beyond (Figure 3B). A King may not be moved more than three times in successive turns, unless he captures a piece, moves another of his own pieces, or the player has no other pieces left.
If a player has two Kings and the opponent has only one, he has to win the game within seven moves or the game is a draw.
Figure 3 Frisian Checkers capture
If a player is able to capture an opponent’s piece he is required to do so. If there are two or more different ways to make a capture, the move that captures the most opponent's pieces must be taken. If there are two or more ways to capture the same number of pieces and Kings, the move that captures the most Kings must be taken.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 10 x 10 grid of 2” squares on a piece of firm card.
Damone
Damone is an Italian variation of diagonal draughts or checkers. It is unusual because it has three differently ranked pieces compared with other variants of draughts. The pieces are the Damone or Imperatore meaning “emperor", the Dama meaning “king”, and the Pedine meaning checker man”. The goal of the game is to capture all the opponent’s pieces.
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Figure 1 Damone board
Figure 2 Damone moves
Rules
Each player has eight pieces ranked from highest to lowest order: one Damone (I), two Damas (D) and five Pedine. A player's pieces can only capture the opponent’s pieces of the same or lower rank. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The players take turns starting from the initial arrangement of pieces shown in Figure 1. The pieces can move diagonally onto an adjacent vacant square.
The Damone and the Damas can move forwards, backwards and sideways diagonally one square. The Pedine are restricted to moving forwards diagonally one square towards the initial corner position of the opposing Damone, as well as sideways diagonally one square as shown in Figure 2.
A piece may capture an opponent’s piece by jumping over it onto a vacant square immediately beyond it (short leap). The captured piece is removed from the board. A Pedine may only capture by a short leap in the forward or sideways direction. The Damone and Dama may capture by a short leap in any direction. If a player is able to capture an opponent’s piece he must do so. A piece can capture multiple pieces in one turn (Figure 3) and this must be done if possible.
Figure 3 Damone jumps
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If more than one capture path is possible then the path that captures the most pieces must be taken. If multiple capture paths have equal number of captures, then the path available to the highest rank capturing piece must be taken. If there are multiple equal length capture paths available to capturing pieces of the same rank then the path having the highest ranked piece must be taken.
If there are multiple equal length capture paths available to capturing pieces of the same rank and they have the same highest ranked piece, then the path that contains the most number of the highest ranked pieces must be taken. For example, if a Damone has path A containing one Damone and two Damas, and path В containing one Damone, one Dama, and one Pedine, then path A must be taken. If a decision cannot be made yet based on these multiple capture path rules, the player is free to choose any one of the available paths.
Variants
A variant of the game is to capture all of the opponent’s Damones. Another variant is to start the game with three Damas and three Pedines, but no Damones. However, pieces can be promoted to higher ranks such as the Damone.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of 2" squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters marked with I, D and P will serve as the pieces.
Dama (Turkish Draughts)
Dama or Turkish draughts is mainly played in Turkey and other countries in the Middle East. Uncrowned pieces are called pioni and crowned pieces are called dama.
Rules
Dama is played on 8 x 8 un-checkered board. Each player has 16 pieces usually black and red or white which are placed on the second and third ranks (Figure 1). The goal is to capture all your opponent's pieces or prevent him moving.
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The players decide who will start by some suitable means and then the players take turns with white starting first. A piece can only move orthogonally one square at a time forward or to the side (Figure 2A).
A piece captures by jumping orthogonally either forwards or to the side over a single opponent’s piece onto a vacant square immediately beyond it (Figure ЗА). Multiple captures are allowed and each captured piece is removed from the board before the capturing piece continues jumping. If a player is able to capture an opponent’s piece he must do so.
Any piece that reaches the opponent’s back rank becomes a Queen (Dama). A Queen can move orthogonally any number of vacant squares like a Rook in Chess (Figure 2B). To capture a Queen jumps orthogonally forwards or backwards over a single opponent’s piece to land on any vacant square beyond the captured piece (Figure 3B). A piece can capture a Queen and vice-versa.
The first player to capture all his opponent’s pieces or block all his opponent’s pieces so that he cannot move wins. If the same position is encountered three times the game results in a draw.
Figure 3 Dama capture
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Variants
There is also an Armenian variant called Tama which allows some diagonal movement.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of 2” squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces.
Makyek
Makyek is a two-player board game from Brunei. It has an unusual method of capture called intervention in which a piece moved between two of the opponent’s pieces captures both of them. The goal of the game is to capture your opponent’s pieces. In Malaysia it has the name Apit-sodok.
Rules
The game of Makyek is played by two players on an 8 x 8 board shown in Figure 1. Each player has 16 pieces. One player plays black and the other plays white. The pieces are arranged on the first and third rows from the player at the start of the game. The pieces can move orthogonally any number of spaces but may not jump over other pieces. The moves are the same as that of a Rook in Chess.
Figure 1 Makyek board
Figure 2 Makyek capture
There two methods of capture. A piece may be captured if it is sandwiched between two of the opponent’s pieces shown in Figure 2B; this is called custodial capture. A piece may also capture two of the opponent's pieces if it is moved between those two pieces shown in Figure 2A; this is called capture by intervention.
The winner is the player who has captured all of his opponent's pieces.
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Variants
A variation of the rules is to allow the edge of the board to be used for custodial capture.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces.
Konane
Konane is a Hawaiian game played on a 6 x 6 board called a pupamu with 18 black lava stones called kanaka ili ele (or black men) and 18 white coral stones or shells called kanaka ili kea (or white men). It was enjoyed in ancient Hawaii by both the ali i (royalty) and the commoners. It was said that King Kamehameha the Great was an excellent player. The game is also known as Hawaiian checkers.
Rules
The game begins with all the pieces (kanaka) on the board arranged in an alternating pattern as shown in Figure 1. The players decide which colors to play (black or white). Black starts first, and must remove one of its pieces from the middle of the board, or one of its two corner pieces from the board. White then removes one of its pieces orthogonally adjacent to the empty space created by Black. There are now two orthogonally adjacent empty spaces on the board as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1 Konane board
Figure 2 First moves
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The players take turns and must jump over an adjacent opposing piece orthogonally onto a vacant square beyond, in either direction. The jumped piece is removed from the board. All moves must be capturing moves. The player’s piece can continue to jump over enemy pieces but only in the same row or column as shown in Figure 3. After the piece can no longer jump, the player's turn ends. Only one piece may be used in a turn to capture enemy pieces.
The player that can no longer make a capture is the loser, and the other player is the winner.
Variants
Konane may be played on any n x n board as long as n is an even number.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Go stones, buttons or pebbles will serve as the pieces. Home woodworkers can use a router to make a grid of holes in a 8” x 8” piece of wood.
Chess
Chess is believed to have originated in northern India around 3000 B.C. as the game Chaturanga. It spread westwards as the Persian game Shatranj, and then to Europe and eventually became modern Chess. It also spread eastwards and evolved to become the Chinese Chess game Xiang-Qi and the Japanese chess game Shogi. The picture below shows medieval Moorish Chess players.
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Rules
The rules of modern international Chess have been set out by the International Chess Federation FIDE. Chess is played on an 8 by 8 checkered board. The goal of the game is to capture the opponent's King.
Figure 1 Chess board
Pieces
Each player has the pieces shown on the back row from left to right on Figure 1, a Rook, a Knight, a Bishop, a Queen and a King, another Bishop, Knight and Rook, as well as 8 Pawns. The board is placed with the white corner square at the player's right hand. All chess pieces including Pawns capture by moving to the square occupied the opponent's piece and that piece is removed from the board.
King (K)
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The King is the most important piece on the board and may move one square in any direction (Figure 1). If a player’s King is threatened with capture, it is usual for the player making the move to say ‘check’, and the player must move so that his King is no longer threatened. If there is no possible move to remove the threat, the King is in checkmate and the game is over. A King must never move into check. If a player's only legal move is to place his King in check, but his King is currently not in check, then the player is said to be stalemated. In a case of a stalemate, the game is a draw. A draw may also occur if there are only two Kings left on the board.
Queen (Q)
The Queen is the strongest piece on the board and may move any distance orthogonally and diagonally forwards and backwards (Figure 1). Queens always start the game on a square of their own color, the white Queen in on a white square and the black Queen on a black square. This means that the Queens face each other on the same file as do the Kings.
Figure 2 King and Queen moves
Figure 3 Rook and Bishop moves
Bishop (B)
The Bishop may move any distance diagonally but may not jump over pieces (Figure 2).
Rook(R)
The Rook moves any distance orthogonally but may not jump over pieces (Figure 2). The Rook can also engage in a special move with the King called ‘castling’. The aim is to bring the Rook towards the center of the board and at the same time move the King to a safer position. The King is moved two squares towards the Rook and then the Rook is moved the square on the other side of the King as shown in Figure 4. A player can only perform castling once in a game. There can be no pieces between the King and the Rook and neither piece can have moved from its original position. To castle the King cannot be in check on its starting square, the ending square or the square that it passes through.
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Figure 5 Knight and Pawn moves
Knight (N)
The Knight may move two squares orthogonally and then one square to the left or right and has the ability to jump over a piece on any intervening square (Figure 5).
Pawn (P)
A Pawn may only move forward a single square but may move two squares forwards on its first move (shown in blue in Figure 5). A Pawn moves forward in its own file except when it makes a capture by moving diagonally one square forward (shown in red in Figure 5).
A Pawn can also perform en passant capture. If a Pawn moves forward two squares and lands next to an opponent’s Pawn, the opponent’s Pawn may capture the moved Pawn en passant as if it had only moved one square as shown in Figure 6. The en passant capture must be made in the player’s next move.
If a Pawn reaches the eighth rank at opposite side of the board, it is can be promoted to any other piece except a King. Usually a Pawn is promoted to a Queen. To represent a promoted Pawn a captured Queen may be used, a Rook may be inverted or perhaps a Pawn can be placed on top of a Rook.
Figure 6 Pawn En Passant Capture
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Play
Chess moves may be recorded in a standard notation. There are two types of notation, English notation and Algebraic notation. Algebraic is a more logical form of notation and is described here. It uses a grid reference system shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7 Algebraic Notation
The files are identified by the letters a through to h and the ranks are numbered 1 to 8 starting with white's back row. The moves by each player are identified by the piece and their final position. Pawns are not identified.
Chess can be described in terms of three phases of a game, the opening, the middle game and the end game.
Openings
Either one of the Pawns or the Knights can be used to start the game. Most games start with a center Pawn opening since pieces placed at the center of the board command more squares than those at the side. There a number of well-known opening moves. One such opening is the Ruy Lopez or Spanish opening shown here in Algebraic notation:
1	. e4 e5
2	N-f3 N-c6
3	B-b5
Figure 8 shows the position of the pieces after these moves.
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Figure 8 Ruy Lopez Opening
Figure 9 Four Knights Opening
Another well-known opening is the Four Knights opening:
1 e4 e5
2 N-f3 N-c6
3 N-сЗ N-f6
Figure 9 shows the position of the pieces after these moves.
Middle Game
The strategy of the middle game is to advance control over the board and develop opportunities to attack the opponent's King. Tactics are the movement of pieces to the best advantage in a situation. A fork is a useful tactic that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time. The piece making the multiple attack on the opponent's pieces is the forking piece. The type of fork is named after the type of forking piece. For example a Knight fork uses the Knight as the forking piece. Forking a King is very effective as the King must be immediately defended leaving the other forked piece open to capture.
End Game
The desired outcome of the end game is a checkmate. However, a player’s forces may be reduced to the extent that a draw may result. The minimum forces need to effect checkmate are: King and Queen, King and rook, King and two Bishops. King, Bishop and Knight, King, Queen and Knight, King, Queen and Bishop. The checkmate from a King and a Queen is shown in Figure 10. The checkmate from a King and a Queen is shown in Figure 11.
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Variants
An interesting variation of Chess is Maharajah and the Sepoys. One player has the normal set of pieces, the Sepoys, and the other player has a single piece, the Maharajah, which can move as a Queen and a Knight. The Sepoys’ goal is to checkmate the Maharajah and the Maharajah’s goal is to checkmate the Sepoys’ King. There is no pawn promotion or castling.
Figure 12 Maharajah and the Sepoys
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8x12 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Inexpensive Chess sets can be purchased although checkers pieces marked with the letters will serve as the pieces.
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Shatranj
Shatranj is the predecessor to modern Chess. It was played in Persia as long ago as the б*1 century AD. It evolved from the ancient Indian game of Chaturanga. It was adapted to become Senterej (Ethiopian Chess) and to Ajedrez (Spanish Chess).
Rules
The Shatranj is played on an 8 x 8 uncheckered board as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 The board
Pieces
Each player has the pieces shown on the back row from left to right on Figure 1, a Rukh (Rook), an Asp (Knight), a Pil (Bishop), a Shah (King), a Counselor (Queen), another Pil, an Asp and a Rukh, as well as 8 Pujadas.
Shah (King)
The King may move one square either orthogonally or diagonally forwards and backwards (Figure 2).
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Figure 3 Rukh and Asp moves Figure 4 Pil and Pujada moves
Rukh or Chariot (Rook)
A Rukh may move any number of vacant squares orthogonally (Figure 3).
Pil or Elephant (Bishop)
A Pil may move exactly two squares diagonally forwards or backwards (Figure 4). This limits the Pil to only eight squares on the board.
Farzin or Counselor (Queen)
A Farzin may only move one vacant square diagonally forwards or backwards (Figure 2).
Asp or Horse (Knight)
An Asp jumps orthogonally two squares forwards or backwards and then one square to the left or right. It can jump over any pieces in intervening squares (Figure 3).
Pujada or Soldier (Pawn)
A Pujada can move one square directly forward. When it reaches the furthest rank it is promoted a Farzin. A Pujada moves forward in its own file except when it makes a capture by moving diagonally one square forward (shown in red on Figure 4).
Play
The players take turns to move one piece from the square it occupies to another square. If a piece is moved onto a square occupied by an enemy piece, the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board. The goal of the game is advance the pieces and attempt to put the opposing Shah in check.
When the Shah is threatened by an enemy piece, the Shah is said to be in check and the player must say “Shah". A player is not allowed to leave his Shah in check. When the Shah is in check and unable to escape check on the player's next move, it is said to be checkmated and the player loses the game. The winning player says “Shahmat”. A player also loses when his Shah is not in check, but he can make no legal move that doesn't put the Shah in check.
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If a player is reduced to the Shah alone then he must reduce his opponent to a Shah alone on the next move otherwise he loses the game.
Variants
An interesting variant is Circular, or Byzantine Chess which uses a 16 x 4 circular board shown in Figure 5. The pieces all move as in Shatranj. There is no pawn promotion and if two of a player's Pajudas were moved around the board and met face-to-face blocking each other the opponent may remove both of them from the board, but this does count as a move.
Figure 5 Circular Chess
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Ordinary chessman can be used as the pieces.
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Courier Chess
One of the very interesting predecessors of modern international Chess is Courier Chess. This game, also called Kurierspiel, is a southern German variant played on a 8 x 12 board. The earliest mention of the game is in the Wigalois of Wimt von Gravenberg in 1202. Lucan Van Leyden the great Dutch renaissance painter and engraver of Leiden gave us the famous painting, The Chess Players in 1508 at the age of fourteen. This painting depicts a game of Courier. This painting formed part of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin and in 1945 narrowly escaped destruction during bombings raids before being moved to Merker’s salt mine near Erfurt and recovery by General Patton's Third Army. The village of Strobeck near Halberstadt in the Hartz Mountains possesses a Courier board presented to the village in 1651 by the Elector-Prince Frederick William of Brandenburg. The game is named for one of the more powerful pieces, the Courier.
Figure 1 Van Leyden' the Chess Players
Rules
The game is played on a 12 x 8 checkered board as shown in figure 2. The board is placed with the white corner square at the players right hand.
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Figure 2 Courier board
Pieces
Each player has a king, queen, a sage, a jester, two couriers, two bishops, two knights, two rooks and 12 pawns as shown on Figure 2.
King (K)
The King may move one square in any direction.
Queen (Q)
The Queen may move one square diagonally forwards and backwards and in the opening move may jump to the third square.
Bishop (B)
The Bishop may move two squares diagonally and has the ability to jump over a piece on the intervening square.
Knight (N)
The Knight may move one square orthogonally and then one square diagonally away from its former position and has the ability to jump over a piece on the intervening square.
Rook(R)
The Rook moves any distance orthogonally but may not jump over pieces.
Courier (C)
The Courier moves any distance diagonally but may not jump over pieces. It has the same ability as a modern chess bishop.
Jester (J)
The Jester may move one square orthogonally.
Sage (S)
The Sage may move one square in any direction.
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Pawn (P)
A Pawn may only move forward a single square with the exception of the Queen’s and Rook's Pawns which may move two squares forwards on their first move.
Play
To develop the game more quickly the game begins with each player making the following moves: The three Pawns in front of the Rooks and Queen move two spaces forward; the Queen also moves two spaces directly forward, to stand right behind the advanced Queen’s Pawn as shown in Figure 3. The two players then play alternately, each time moving one piece in accordance with its normal move.
Figure 3 Opening Moves
If a player’s King is threatened with capture, check is declared, and the player must move so that his King is no longer threatened. If there is no possible move to remove the threat, the king is in checkmate and the game is over.
If a Pawn reaches the opposite side of the board, it is immediately promoted, being replaced by a Queen.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 12 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers pieces marked with the letters will serve as the pieces.
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Gala (Farmers Chess)
Gala or Farmer’s Chess is still played in some farming villages in Schleswig-Holstein, once in Denmark but now part of Germany. The goal of Gala is to capture both of the opponent’s kings or Galas.
Rules
The game is played by two players on a 10 x 10 board with the pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1 at the start of the game. The board consists of two parts: the four corner sections or castles of 4 x 4 squares and the center part, which is in the shape of a cross. The two parts are separated by the deflection line, so called because the pieces move differently after they cross the line.
(Rooks) as well as eight Kampas (Pawns). The pieces are all the same shape, with the Gala or King being slightly larger. The pieces are distinguished by color, Galas have gold tops, the Kornas have green tops, the Horsas have red tops and the Kampas (Pawns) only have their basic color, black or white.
All the pieces including the Kampas capture by moving to the square occupied the opponent’s piece and that piece is removed from the board.
Gala or King
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The Gala may move one square in any direction as shown in Figure 2. The Gala cannot capture when it is inside the cross. When it is on one of the four squares at the center of the board it may jump to any unoccupied square on the board except those that are the initial positions of the pieces.
If a player’s Gala is threatened with capture, it is usual for the player making the move to say ‘gala’, and the player must move so that his Gala is no longer threatened. If there is no possible move to remove the threat, the Gala is captured.
Figure 2 Gala moves
Korna
The Korna may move one or more squares orthogonally outside the cross and one or more squares diagonally inside the cross. If the Korna crosses the deflection line with the first square he moves, he may also move any number of vacant squares (black lines in Figure 3). If the Korna has moved one or more squares before crossing the deflection line, he may then only move one square (red lines in Figure 3). If the Korna captures a piece when crossing the deflection line it may not make the additional move.
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Horsa or Horseman
The Horsa may move one or more squares diagonally outside the cross and one or more squares orthogonally inside the cross. If the Horsa crosses the deflection line with the first square he moves, he may also move any number of vacant squares (black lines in Figure 4). If the Horsa has moved one or more squares before crossing the line, he may then only move one square (red lines in figure 4). If the Horsa captures a piece when crossing the deflection line it may not make an additional move. When crossing the deflection line from inside the cross, the Horsa is not allowed to capture a piece adjacent to the deflection line.

Figure 4 Horsa moves across the deflection line
Kampa or Warrior
Kampas only move one square diagonally forwards when outside the cross and outside the opponent’s comers of the board. It may move two squares forward if the deflection line is not passed with the first move of the Kampa.
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When the Kampa is inside the cross or in an opponent's corner of the board, it may move one square in any direction. When a Kampa is moved back to a corner side of the board, it can only move diagonally forward again.
Kampas can only capture when they are inside the cross. A Kampa cannot capture as it crosses the deflection line into the cross.
Play
Players take turns and advance across the board attempting to capture their opponent’s Galas. A player wins when he has captured both of the opponent’s Galas. If each player has a single Gala on the board the game is a draw.
Variants
An additional objective for the game is to move both Galas to the four center squares of the board. The first player to do so wins the game.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 10 x 10 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers or draughts pieces painted marked with adhesive colored dots will serve as Gala pieces.
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Xiangqi (Chinese Chess)
Xiangqi (Xiangchi) or Chinese Chess is played throughout China and south east Asia.
Rules
The Xiangqi board is a grid of nine files (vertical lines) by ten horizontal rows with the vertical files broken in the center to form a clear row called the river (Figure 1). The parts marked with an X are the palaces or fortresses of the respective generals. The starting points of the cannon and soldiers are marked with a cross.
Pieces
Each player starts with the following pieces: a general, two advisors, two elephants, two horses, two chariots, two cannon and five soldiers (Figure 2). The pieces are usually available only with Chinese script (Figure 3). To aid learning the game and making your own pieces, the letters G, A, E, H, R (for rook), C and S are used in the description of the game.
General (G)
Advisor (A)
Elephant (E)
Horse (H) Chariot (C)	Cannon (R)
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Soldier (S)
Figure 3 Xiangqi Pieces
General (G)
The General may move one point orthogonally, but cannot leave the palace. A player cannot make any move that would leave the two Generals facing one another on the same file with no other pieces placed in between (Figure 4).
Figure 5 Advisor and Elephant moves
Figure 4 General moves
Advisor (A)
An Advisor moves one point diagonally and may not leave the palace, which confines them to five points on the board. They serve to protect the General. This is also known as a counselor, minister, officer or mandarin.
Elephant (E)
The Elephant moves exactly two points diagonally and may not jump over pieces of either color (Figure 5). If an Elephant is blocked by a piece, it is said to be blinded They may not cross the river and so serve as defensive pieces. Because of an Elephant's limited movement, it can be easily trapped or threatened. Typically the two Elephants will be used to defend each other. This is also called a bishop.
Horse (H)
The Horse moves one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally away from its former position. It is important to note that the Horse does not jump as the knight does in western Chess. Thus, if there were a piece on a point one point away orthogonally from the horse, the Horse's path of movement is blocked and it is unable to move in that direction. Legal moves for the Horse are shown by the blue arrows in Figure 6; red ones are illegal because of the obstructing piece.
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Figure 6 Horse (H) and Chariot (R) moves
Figure 7 Cannon capture and move
Chariot (R)
The Chariot moves and captures orthogonally any distance, and may not jump over pieces. The Chariot is the strongest piece in the game as it can range over the whole board. The Chariot is called the rook, since it is similar the rook in western Chess. Chinese players often call this piece a car, since that is one modern meaning of its character (The character represents a top view of the box and wheels of a horse-drawn chariot; the vertical line is the axle, and the top and bottom horizontal lines are the two wheels.) Legal moves for the Chariot are shown by blue arrows in Figure 6.
Cannon (C)
The Cannon moves like the Chariot, orthogonally, but it captures by jumping over exactly one piece of either color to its target. When capturing, the Cannon is moved to the point of the captured piece. The Cannon may not jump over another piece if not capturing another piece. The piece the Cannon jumps over is called the cannon platform. This is also called a catapult. The Cannon capture and move are shown in Figure 7.
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Soldier (S)
A Soldier moves and captures by advancing forward one step as long as it is on its own side of the river. Once it has crossed the river, it may also move and capture one step orthogonally (Figure 8). Soldiers can never move backward, and therefore cannot retreat; however, they may still move sideways at the enemy's edge. This is also called a pawn.
Play
The players take turns to move one piece from the point it occupies to another point. If a piece is moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board. The goal of the game is advance the pieces and attempt to put the opposing General in check.
When a General is threatened by an enemy piece, the General is said to be in check. A player is not allowed to leave his General in check. When the General is in check and unable to escape check on the player's move, it is said to be checkmated, and the player loses the game. A player also loses when his General is not in check, but he can make no legal move that doesn't put the General in check; there is no stalemate. A player is not allowed to give check by repeating its same position in subsequent moves, the player forcing the repetition must do something else.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 9 x 10 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Checkers pieces marked with the letters will serve as the pieces.
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Shogi (Japanese Chess)
Shogi or Japanese Chess is played throughout Japan. It evolved from the Chinese game Xiang-Qi and has been played in Japan in its present form since the 16th century. Shogi has an interesting feature called ‘dropping’ in which captured pieces may be returned to the board.
Rules
The Shogi board is a grid of nine files (vertical columns) by nine horizontal rows (Figure 1).
Pieces
Each player starts with twenty pieces each: a King, one Rook, one Bishop, two Gold Generals, two Silver Generals, two Knights, two Lances and nine Pawns. In Japanese sets the pieces are all the same color and shape, the more important pieces being larger. These pieces are marked with Japanese script (Figure 3). Each player shows which pieces are his by pointing them away from himself. There are western Shogi sets which use the letters K, R, B, G, S, N, L and P (Figure 2). Promoted pieces are shown with a preceding +. The King, Gold General, Silver General, Knight and Pawn may only move one square, while the Rook, Bishop and Lance may range over the board.
King (K) Rook (R)
Promoted Bishop (B) Promoted
Rook (+R)	Bishop (+B)
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Gold (G) Silver (S)
Promoted Knight (N) Promoted
Silver (+S)	Knight (+N)
Lance (L) Promoted Pawn (P) Promoted
Lance (+L)	Pawn (+P)
Figure 3 Japanese Shogi Pieces
King (K)
The King may move one step orthogonally in any direction (Figure 4).
Rook(R)
A Rook may move any number of vacant squares orthogonally in any direction (Figure 5). When promoted a Rook (+R) may also move one square diagonally in any direction.
Bishop (B)
A Bishop may move any number of vacant squares diagonally in any direction (Figure 5). When promoted a Bishop (+B) may also move one square forward, backwards and sideways.
Gold General (G)
A Gold General can move one square orthogonally in any direction, or one square diagonally forward (Figure 4).
Silver General (S)
A Silver General can move one square diagonally or one square directly forward (Figure 4). When promoted a Silver General (+S) may move the same as a Gold General.
Knight (N)
A Knight jumps forward two squares and then one square to the left or right (Figure 4). When promoted a Knight (+N) may move the same as a Gold General.
Lance (L)
A Lance can move any number of vacant squares directly forward (Figure 5). It cannot move backward or to the sides. When promoted a knight (+L) may move the same as a Gold General.
Pawn (P)
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A Pawn can move one square directly forward (Figure 4). It cannot move backward or to the sides. When promoted a Pawn (+P) may move the same as a Gold General.
Play
The players take turns to move one piece from the point it occupies to another point. The goal of the game is advance the pieces and attempt to put the opposing King in check. If a piece is moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board and kept at the side of the board.
If a player has captured pieces, he may choose, instead of moving one of his pieces on the board, to place drop one of these captured pieces into play, on any vacant square of the board. The piece is always dropped with its unpromoted value showing. A player may not drop a Pawn onto a file which already contains one of his own Pawns as only one Pawn is allowed per file. This rule does not apply to files occupied by promoted Pawns. A Pawn may not be dropped to give checkmate on that move. Pawns and Lances cannot be dropped on the rank furthest away and Knights cannot be dropped on the two furthest ranks.
The three ranks of the board furthest from the player are his promotion zone. If a piece moves across the board and part of that path lies within the promotion zone, that is, if it moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the character for the promoted rank. The piece keeps is promoted value until it is captured or until the end of the game.
If a Pawn or Lance reaches the far rank or a Knight reaches either of the two farthest ranks, it must promote, as it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. A Silver General never needs to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a Silver General unpromoted.
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Figure 6 Moves of promoted pieces
When a King is threatened by an enemy piece, the King is said to be in check. A player is not allowed to leave his King in check. When the King is in check and unable to escape check on the player's move, it is said to be checkmated, and the player loses the game. A player also loses when his King is not in check, but he can make no legal move that does not put the King in check; there is no stalemate.
Notation
Shogi moves may be recorded in a standard notation of the Shogi Association using the grid reference system shown in Figure 1. The files are identified by the numbers 1 to 9 and the ranks are identified by the letters a to i with 1a being in the top right. The moves by each player are identified by the piece, the method of moving: for a move on the board, x’ for a capture and a **’ for a drop, and their final position. If the piece is promoted a ’+' is added after the move, or is a promotion was possible but refused a *=’ is added.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 9x9 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. To help you learn the pieces and the moves make the Shogi pieces using the markings shown in Figure 10. Cut pieces of card to these dimensions.
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a
a a a a
Figure 10 Shogi piece marking
Makruk (Thai Chess)
Makruk or Thai Chess is the chess variant played in Thailand. It is believed to have evolved from the ancient Indian game Chaturanga.
Rules
The game is played on an uncheckered 8x8 board with the pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1 at the start of the game.
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Pieces
Each player has the pieces shown on the back row from left to right on Figure 1, a Rook, a Knight, a Bishop, a King, a Queen, another Bishop, Knight and Rook, as well as 8 Pawns. All chess pieces including Pawns capture by moving to the square occupied the opponent’s piece and that piece is removed from the board. The pieces are described below with their Thai names.
King or Khun (Lord)
The King may move one square in any direction (Figure 2). If a players King is threatened with capture, it is usual for the player making the move to say check’, and the player must move so that his King is no longer threatened. If there is no possible move to remove the threat, the King is in checkmate and the game is over. A King must never move into check. If a player finds that the only legal move he can make will put his King in check, but he is not in check at the moment, this is a stalemate, and the game is a draw.
Queen or Met (Seed)
The Queen (or Minister) may move one square and diagonally forwards and backwards (Figure 2).
Figure 2 King and Queen moves
Figure 3 Rook and Knight moves
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Bishop or Khon/Thon (Nobleman)
The Bishop may move forward one square and one square diagonally (Figure 4).
Rook or Rua (Boat)
The Rook moves any distance orthogonally but may not jump over pieces (Figure 3). There is no
Figure 4 Bishop and Pawn moves
Knight or Ma (Horse)
The Knight may move two squares orthogonally and then one square to the left or right and has the ability to jump over a piece on the intervening square (Figure 3) as in international chess.
Pawn or Bia (Cowry shell)
A Pawn may only move forward a single square. A Pawn moves forward in its own file except when it makes a capture by moving diagonally one square forward (shown in red on Figure 4).
If a Pawn reaches the sixth rank, it is can be promoted to a Minister.
Play
Players take turns and advance across the board attempting to checkmate their opponent. The end game is controlled by several rules that force the advantaged player to reach checkmate within a certain number of moved otherwise the game results in a draw.
When neither side has any pawns left, checkmate must be achieved in 64 moves. The disadvantaged player does the counting, and may at any time choose to stop counting. If the disadvantaged side checkmates the advantaged side and did not stop counting, the game is declared a draw.
When the last piece of the disadvantaged side is captured and only the King remains, the count is restarted and the advantaged side is now given a count value based on the pieces it has left. The count is given by the advantaged player's count (see the table below) minus the total number of pieces remaining on the board including the disadvantaged player’s King. Start at the first entry of the table and work down the table to find the first entry that matches any pieces held by the advantaged player to determine the advantaged player’s count.
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The game starts with the pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1. The Swedes move first and the players take turns to move one piece orthogonally any number of squares to a vacant position on the board. A piece cannot jump another piece.
Only the King may occupy the konakis and the corner squares. Other pieces may pass through the konakis when it is unoccupied, but may not stop there.
A piece is captured if it is trapped by two opposing pieces along a row or column. Any number of contiguous pieces in a straight line may be captured in this manner with an opposing piece at each end as shown in Figure 2A. When the capture happens all the captured pieces are removed from the board. A piece may also be captured if it is trapped between an opposing piece and a corner square as shown in Figure 2B. Two or more pieces may be captured in a single move as shown in figure 2C. The King may not take part in captures.
A player may move a piece between two opposing pieces without being captured. However, if the opposing player then moves one of the trapping pieces away in any direction, on the next move he may return to the original position and capture the piece.
The King is captured if he is surrounded on all four orthogonal sides by enemy pieces, or on three sides by enemy pieces and on the fourth by the konakis or the edge of the board, or on two sides by enemy pieces, on the third by the edge of the board, and on the fourth by a corner square. If the King is captured, the Muscovites win.
If the King reaches any square at the edge of the board, the Swedes win. If the King has clear path to a perimeter square during the Swede’s move, the player must warn his opponent by saying Raichi! If the King has two clear paths, the player says Tuichil, which is equivalent to "checkmate", since there is no way the King can be blocked from two routes in a single move.
Variants
Tablut may also be played with the rule that the King must reach a corner square for the Swedes to win.
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Advantaged Player’s pieces	Advantaged Player's Count
2 Rooks	8
1 Rook	16
2 Bishops	22
2 Knights	32
1 Bishop	44
No Rooks, Bishops or	64
Knights	
For example, if black has two Rooks and two Knights against white’s King, he has 2 moves to checkmate his opponent otherwise the game ends in a draw, i.e., the advantaged player count (8) minus total number of pieces on the board (6). If white captures a black Rook, the count does not restart.
As another example, if black has one Rook, two Bishops, two promoted pawns and a King against white’s King, he has 7 moves to checkmate his opponent otherwise the game ends in a draw, i.e., the advantaged player count (16) minus total number of pieces on the board (7).
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 8 x 8 grid of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Inexpensive chess sets can be purchased although checkers pieces marked with the letters will serve as the pieces.
Tablut
When Karl van Linne, also known as Linnaeus the famous Swedish botanist, journeyed through Lapland in 1732, he encountered including an interesting two player game called Tablut. Tablut is the Finnish variant of the ancient Viking game Hnefatafl or King’s Table and is one of the Tafl family of games.
Rules
The game is played on board of 9 x 9 squares, the central being one called the konakis or throne.
It is played with two unequal sides, eight white Swedish soldiers and their King against 16 black Muscovites.
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There are a number of ancient variants of Tablut for which very little documentation exists. The
There is also Welsh version called Tawlbrwdd shown in Figure 4 with 13 white pieces and 24 black pieces.
There is a Celtic variant called Fidchell (pronounced fickle) which is played on a 7 x 7 board shown in Figure 5. It is also spelled Fithcheal, or Fitchneal. The name means “wood sense” in Irish and Welsh. It is mentioned in ancient Celtic lore and a Fidchell artifact has been found at Balinderry, Ireland. It is played with 9 white pieces and 16 black pieces.
Figure 5 Fidchell board
Figure 6 Ard-Ri board
The ancient Scottish game of Ard-Ri or High King is played on a 7 x 7 board shown in Figure 6.
The name for the Saxon variant Aiea Evangelii meaning ‘the game of the Apostles’ comes from a line in a 10,h century manuscript where it is mentioned as: "Incipit alea evangelii quam Dubinsi...". It was played on the intersections of a board of 18*18 squares shown in Figure 7 with 24 white pieces and 48 black pieces.
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Figure 7 Aiea Evangelii board
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters or buttons with one marked as a King will serve as the pieces.
Fox and Geese
Fox and Geese or Refskak (Fox chess) is a two-player board game from Iceland. Hala-Tafl or the Fox’s tail Game is mentioned in the Icelandic saga 'Grettis'. The game was also played by Edward IV of England, who had the game made out of silver and also by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This game belongs to the Tafl group of games that is fought with unequal forces. The board is made with holes and pegs are used as the pieces.
Rules
The game of Fox and Geese is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. Pieces can only move along the lines connecting the points. The goal of the Fox is to capture the Geese by jumping them and the goal of the Geese is to block the Fox so it cannot move.
The game starts with the Fox (black) and 13 Geese (white) placed on the intersecting points of the board as shown in Figure 1. The players take turns starting with the Fox.
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Figure 1 Fox and Geese board
Figure 2 Fox and Geese moves
The Fox can move in any direction along a line orthogonally or diagonally to an adjacent vacant point as shown in Figure 2. The Geese can only move forwards and sideways along a line orthogonally or diagonally to an adjacent vacant point. The Fox can also capture a Goose by jumping over it in a straight line onto a vacant point on the other side of the Goose. The captured Goose is removed from the board and cannot be returned to play. A Fox can jump more than one Goose at a time. It is mandatory for the Fox to jump a Goose if he is able to do so. If he does not do so, a new Goose is added anywhere on the board by the player playing the Geese. This is called huffing the Fox.
The Fox wins when it has, captured enough Geese so they are unable to trap him and the Geese win if they are able to block the Fox so it cannot move.
Variants
The game may also be played with 17 Geese with the starting arrangement shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Fox and 17 Geese
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Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces using black for the Fox and white for Geese.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 14” x 14” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles may be used as the Fox and Geese pieces. Alternatively the board can be made with holes and small pegs can be fashioned for the pieces.
Asalto
Asalto (or Assault) is a more recent form of the Fox and Geese game. It is a war game with unequal forces. During the Indian Mutiny it was called Officers and Sepoys. There was a similar game called Transvaal based on the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War (1899-1901).
Rules
Asalto is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. The darker square represents a fortress with defenders to protect it from an attacking force. The game starts with two Defenders (black) and 24 Attackers (white). The defenders may be placed on any two points within the fortress and the Attackers are placed on all points outside the fortress as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2 Asalto moves
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The Attackers move first. The Attackers can only move forwards and sideways along a line orthogonally or diagonally to an adjacent vacant point as shown in Figure 2. Defenders can move in any direction along a line orthogonally or diagonally to any adjacent vacant point. Defenders can also capture an Attacker by jumping over it along a straight line onto a vacant point on the other side of the Attacker. The captured Attacker is removed from the board and cannot be returned to play. A Defender can jump more than one Attacker at a time. The Defenders must jump over an Attacker if they are able to do so.
The Attackers win if they can occupy every point in the fortress, or if they can trap the Defenders so they are unable to move. The Defenders win when they have captured enough Attackers so they are unable to be trapped or complete occupy the fortress.
Variants
The game may also be played using the same rules with 7 Defenders and 50 Attackers on a board shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Larger Assault board
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2" spacing between the lines. Checkers counters or coins will serve as the pieces using black for the fox and white for geese.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 14” x 14” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles are then used as the Asalto pieces.
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Baqh Chai (Tigers and Goats)
Bagh Chai (meaning moving Tigers or change of Tigers), is also known as Tigers and Goats. It is a two-player board game from Nepal. Some Bagh Chai boards are ornate using small tiger and goat figurines as pieces. India has a similar game called 'Adu Huli' or ’Goats and Tigers' which is played on an unusual pyramid-shaped board.
Rules
The game of Tigers and Goats is played by two players using a board shown below. The board consists of a grid of 25 points with connecting lines. Tigers and Goats can only be placed on these points and moves can only be made along these lines. One player has four Tigers and the other twenty Goats which may be placed on any point on the board. The goal of the player with the Tigers is to capture the Goats by jumping them and the goal of the Goats is to block Tigers so they cannot move.
Figure 1 Tigers and Goats
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T-e game starts with a Tiger placed at each corner of the board. Turns are taken alternately starting with the Goats player who places a goat on any point on the board. For the Goats there are two phases to the game. During the first phase, Goats are placed on unoccupied points on the board until all Goats are on the board. During this phase a Goat cannot be moved from the point that is has been initially placed. In the second phase Goats may be moved from one point to any adjacent point along a line connecting the two points.
Tigers can either move from one point to any adjacent point along a line connecting the two points or they can eat a Goat by jumping over it in a straight line onto a vacant point on the other side of the Goat. The eaten Goat is removed from the board and cannot be returned to play. A Tiger cannot jump more than one goat at a time and a Tiger cannot jump another Tiger.
The Tigers win when they have eaten five Goats and the Goats win if they are able to block the Tigers so they cannot move.
To prevent a stalemate position in a game where a player could move a piece back and forth indefinitely, repeated moves are prohibited.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2" spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces using black for tigers and white for goats. The same board can be used for the Alquerque game.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 10” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles are then used as the Tigers and Goats pieces.
Pulijudam (Tigers and Goats)
India has a game known by various names including Pulijudam, Adu Huli, Tigers and Goats, Tigers and Lambs, and the Tiger game, which is played on an unusual pyramid-shaped board shown in Figure 1. One player gets three Tigers while the other player has fifteen Goats. This game is similar to the Nepalese game Bagh Chai.
Rules
The pieces (either Tigers or Goats) must be placed only on points at the intersections of lines.
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Figure 2 Tiger jumps
At the beginning the Tigers are placed at three points as shown in Figure 1. The players then take turns with one Goat being placed on any open point on the board such that it is safe from a Tiger’s attack and then one of the Tigers being moved to any adjacent open point along a line. All the Goats are added one by one onto the board after which the Goats can be moved. The player may move only one Goat to an adjacent open point during his turn.
A Tiger may eat a Goat by jumping over it to an open point just behind it as shown in Figure 2. An eaten Goat is removed from the board and cannot be added back to the board. A Tiger cannot jump over a Goat if there is no open point behind the Goat. A Tiger may only jump one Goat per turn.
Figure 3 Blocked tiger
Figure 4 Alternate board shape
A Goat cannot jump over any other piece and a Tiger cannot jump over another Tiger. The goal of the player with the Tigers is to hunt the Goats and the goal of the Goats is to block Tigers so they cannot move as shown in Figure 3.
The Tigers win when they have eaten five Goats and the Goats win if they are able to block the Tigers so they cannot move.
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Variants
Sometimes only 16 Goats are used and the Tigers win if they eat 6 goats. There are different board shapes also as shown in Figure 4.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Checkers counters or buttons will serve as the pieces using black for Tigers and white for Goats.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 10” x 10” piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. Colored marbles are then used as the pieces.
Leopards and Cows
Leopards and Cows is a war game with unequal forces played in India and Sri Lanka.
Rules
Leopards and Cows is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. Pieces can only move along the lines connecting the points either orthogonally or diagonally. The game starts with two Leopards (black) and 24 Cows (white). The goal of the Leopards is to kill Cows and the goal of the Cows is to trap the Leopards so they cannot move.
Figure 1 Leopards and Cows board
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Leopards and Cows can move in any direction along a line orthogonally or diagonally to an adjacent vacant point as shown in Figure 2. The Leopards can also capture (or kill) a Cow by jumping over it in a straight line onto a vacant point on the other side of the Cow. The killed Cow is removed from the board and cannot be returned to play. A Leopard can jump more than Cow at a time. It is mandatory for the Leopards to jump a Cow if they are able to do so.
The game starts with a Leopard being placed on any point usually the center one. The opponent then places a Cow at any point on the board. Another Leopard may then be placed at point on the board. Another Cow is placed on the board and then the Leopards may be moved between points on the board and attempt to capture Cows. All the other Cows are added to the board one by one. When all Cows have been added to the board they may be moved.
The Leopards win if they have killed enough Cows so they cannot be trapped and the Cows win if they have trapped the Leopards so they cannot move.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters or coins will serve as the pieces using black for the Leopards and white for the Cows.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2". Colored marbles are then used as the pieces.
Adugo
Adugo is a game played by the Bororo tribe in the Pantanal region of Brazil. The board is similar to the Alquerque board and may have been adopted from Spanish settlers to South America. A Jaguar (onca) is hunted by 14 dogs (cachorro). The game is often played using the pattern of the board marked on the ground.
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Figure 1 Adugo board
Rules
The game of Adugo is played by two players using a board shown in Figure 1. The goal of the Jaguar is to capture at least five Dogs in order to stalemate the game; a stalemate is a win for the Jaguar. The goal of the Dogs is to surround the Jaguar and block it so it cannot move.
The game starts with the Jaguar (black) and Dogs (white) placed on the intersecting points of the board as shown in Figure 1. The players take turns starting with the Jaguar. The player may only move one piece at each turn. Pieces can only move along the lines connecting the points to an adjacent vacant point.
The Jaguar can also capture a Dog by jumping over it in a straight line onto a vacant point on the other side of the Dog. The captured Dog is removed from the board and cannot be returned to play.
Ringo
Ringo is an interesting two player war game with unequal forces invented in Germany in the 1800s.
Rules
Ringo is played on round board with a central citadel or castle, five rings and eight segments as shown in Figure 1. The goal of the attackers is to land two pieces in the citadel. The goal of the defenders is to capture six attackers.
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One of the segments is the Neutral Zone. White has four defenders of the central citadel which are placed on innermost light spaces at the start of the game. Black has seven attackers which are placed on the outermost ring at the start of the game. The Neutral Zone is empty at the start of the game.
Figure 1 Ringo board
The players decide who will start by some suitable means and then the players take turns with the black Attackers starting first. Only one piece can occupy a space except for the citadel. Only one piece can be moved at a time. A player may either move a piece or capture an opposing piece.
An Attacker can only move one space towards the center, or one space sideways left or right on the same ring (Figure 2A). An Attacker cannot move away from the citadel. A Defender can move one space sideways left or right, or towards the center or away from it (Figure 2B).
An Attacker captures opposing pieces by jumping over the piece either sideways or towards the center onto a vacant space immediately beyond (Figure 2C). An Attacker may not jump over a piece that is behind it. A Defender captures opposing pieces by jumping over the piece sideways, towards the center, or away from the center onto a vacant space immediately beyond (Figure 2D). The captured piece is removed from the board. Only one piece may be captured in a turn. If a piece is able to make a capture he is not required to do so.
Pieces in the Neutral Zone cannot be captured but may be jumped over. A sideways capture may start or end in the Neutral Zone. The number of Attackers in the Neutral Zone cannot be more than the number of Defenders left on the board. For example, if there are three Defenders left in the game, there can be no more than three Attackers in the Neutral Zone.
Defenders cannot enter the citadel, but may jump over it to capture an Attacker's piece that has entered it.
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Figure 3 Ringo moves and capture
Variants
There are some variations to the rules:
1.	Attackers cannot enter the citadel from the Neutral Zone.
2.	Attackers start with six pieces instead of seven.
3.	Defenders may pass a turn without moving a piece.
4.	Attackers can only have one piece in the Neutral Zone.
5.	Defenders may move any number of vacant spaces sideways.
6.	Defenders may move any number of vacant spaces sideways and then jump over an Attacker to land in a vacant space immediately beyond it. The Attacker is captured.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing concentric circles on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces. Depending on the size of the pieces the radii of the circles should be in increments of Г.
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Games of Position
Agon (Queens Guard)
Agon, also known as Queen’s Guard was popular two-player game in the Victorian era. Agon comes from the ancient Greek word for contest or challenge. It is believed to have originated in France in the 18th century.
Rules
Agon is played by two players on a hexagonal board made up of 91 hexagonal cells. Each player has one Queen (marked with a star) and six Guards which are placed on the outer ring of the board as shown in Figure 1. The goal of each player is to put the Queen on the center cell and surround her with her Guards. The players take turns, the first player being selected by the throw of a die. Pieces can only be moved one cell forwards or sideways; they cannot be moved back away from the center of the board. No piece can be moved between two opposing pieces. Only a Queen may move onto the center cell.
Figure 1 Agon board
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If a Guard is trapped between two opposing pieces, the owner of the captured Guard must move it on his next turn to any cell of his own choosing on the outermost ring. If a Queen is trapped between two opposing pieces, the owner of a captured Queen must move it on his next turn to any cell of his opponent’s choosing. If more than piece is captured in a single turn, the player owning the trapped pieces must continue to use his turns to move all his trapped pieces, one per turn, to the outermost ring. Guards may be moved in any order but if a Queen and a Guard are trapped, the Queen must be moved first.
If a piece is touched it must it possible be moved. If a player's six Guards occupy the inner ring surrounding the center cell, the player loses the game. The winner is the player to first put the Queen on the center cell and surround her with her Guards.
Construction
An Agon board can be easily made by drawing a set of 1" hexagons on a piece of firm card.
Halma
Halma was invented between 1883 and 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. Although thought to have originated in England, the games historian Bruce Whitehill recently proved that it indeed originated in America. Mathematician and preacher Thomas Hill, who later became president of Harvard, was also involved in the development of the game and he gave it the name Halma from the Greek word meaning jump. Some ideas for the game come from the British board game Hoppity. Halma is a race game with goal being to transfer pieces between opposite corners.
Rules
The game of Halma may be played by two or four players using a 16 x 16 board shown below. The four players can play as individuals or as teams. There are four sets of pieces, each of a different color.
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Figure 2 Halma board with two players
Two sets contain 19 pieces and are used when there are two players. At the start of a two-player game the pieces are placed on the board in two opposite “camps” or “yards” as shown below.
The other two sets contain 13 pieces each. When there are four players, the game starts with 13 pieces each in the four smaller camps as shown below.
Figure 3 Halma board with four players
Figure 4 Halma hopping ladder
The objective of Halma is to move all pieces from the starting camp to the camp on the opposite corner. The first player to do so wins the game. In a four player partnership game where the team partners sit opposite each other the first team to transfer both sets of pieces wins the game.
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Players take turns moving one piece each turn and the turn passes clockwise. There are two ways to move, a step or a hop. A step is a move into an adjacent vacant square in any direction. A hop is where a piece is jumped over any other piece to a vacant square beyond. The jumped piece is not removed from the board and there is no capture in Halma. A hop can be repeated in any direction. Hopping is not mandatory. A step and a hop cannot be combined in the same turn.
The strategy of Halma is to form hopping ladders’ to move pieces rapidly across the board.
Since pieces can by hopped by friendly or opposing pieces ladders can also be used by opposing pieces coming in the opposite direction. An example of a multiple hop ladder is shown below.
Variants
It is possible to have a three player game with two players with 19 pieces playing opposite each other and one player with 13 pieces playing across that diagonal.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 16 x 16 gnd of one inch squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters will serve as the pieces.
Chinese Checkers
Despite the name Chinese Checkers was invented in Germany in 1893 under the name ‘Stern-Halma’, as a variation of the older American game of Halma. The name originated in the United States as a marketing scheme by Bill and Jack Pressman in 1928.
Rules
Chinese Checkers may be played by two or six players using a six-pointed star shaped board. There are six sets of pieces, each of a different color. If there only two players then each player has 15 pieces, otherwise each player has 10 pieces. For two players the pieces are arranged on two opposite star points at the start of the game as shown in Figure 1
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Figure 1 Chinese Checkers board with two players
The pieces may be pegs or marbles depending in the type of board. The objective of the game is to move the pieces from the starting star point across the board to occupy the star point directly opposite as indicated by the arrows. The first player to do so wins the game.
Players take turns moving one piece each turn and the turn passes clockwise. There are two ways to move, a step or a hop. A step is a move into an adjacent vacant square in any direction. A hop is where a piece is jumped over any other piece to a vacant square beyond. The jumped piece is not removed from the board. A hop can be repeated in any direction. Hopping is not mandatory. A step and a hop cannot be combined in the same turn.
The strategy of Chinese checkers is to form hopping ladders' to move pieces rapidly across the board. Since pieces can by hopped by friendly or opposing pieces ladders can also be used by opposing pieces coming in the opposite direction. An example of a multiple hop ladder is shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2 Multi-hop Ladder
Variants
For games with more than two players, they take turns in a clockwise direction. In a four or six player partnership game where the team partners sit opposite each other the first team to transfer both sets of pieces win the game. A three player game would have the starting arrangement shown in Figure 3 and move their pieces in the direction shown by the arrows.
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Figure 3 Chinese Checkers board with three players
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the set of nested equilateral triangles on a piece of firm card. Small colored counters will serve as the pieces. A woodworker may construct the board from a piece by either forming dimples if marbles are to be used as pieces or drilling holes if pegs are to be used as pieces.
Hex
Hex is a two-player board game invented independently by two mathematicians, the Danish mathematician Piet Hein at the Niels Bohr Institute in 1942 and John Nash at Princeton University in 1947. It was called Polygon in Denmark and was also known as Nash or John, but was given the name Hex when it was offered as a commercial version by the game company Parker Brothers in 1952. John Nash proved that the game of Hex cannot end in a tie. The game was popularized when Martin Gardner wrote about it in the scientific American book of MATHEMATICAL PUZZLES AND DIVERSIONS in 1959.
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Rules
Hex is played on a diamond shaped board made up of hexagonal cells shown in Figure 1. It is usually played on boards of 11 cells on the side for a total of 121 cells.
One player has red pieces and the other player blue pieces. Opposite sides of the board are designated red and blue and the goal of the game is to complete a chain of pieces between a player’s two sides. The players take turns, placing one piece on one of the unoccupied cells of the board. Each player attempts to advance their own chain or block that of their opponent. The first player to connect both their sides wins the game. The four comer cells each belong to both sides.
The center hex cell is the strongest starting position which gives the first player an advantage. The swapping rule allows the second player to choose whether to switch with the first player after the first player makes the first move.
Figure 1 Hex board
The best offense in Hex is defense. Attempting to block your opponent will naturally lead to creating your own chain across the board.
Variants
Hex can also be played on boards of size 13x13 and 19x19.
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Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing an 11 x 11 grid of equilateral triangles on a piece of firm card. First draw two large equilateral triangles of side 15" adjacent to each other and then mark the sides of the triangles at ГЛ" intervals. Next connect the marks with straight lines to form the grid. The pieces are played on the intersection points of the lines and not in the spaces.
Figure 2 Hex board with Equilateral Triangles
Coins, poker chips or Go stones can serve as Hex pieces.
Salta
Salta was invented by German musician Konrad Buttgenbach in 1899. It became very popular when taken up by the famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt. The Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany had a Salta board constructed of solid gold encrusted with precious gems. The name comes from the Latin word “to leap or jump”.
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Rules
Salta is played on 10 x 10 checkered board. All the play takes place on the dark-colored squares. The board should be aligned so the each player has a light-colored square in the righthand corner. Each player has 15 pieces usually red and green which are placed on the darksquares on the three back rows (Figure 1). There are three sets of 5 pieces: in the first row are stars, the second row are moons and the third row are suns. Each piece in a set is marked with a different number of symbols to distinguish from other the pieces in the set.
The object of the game is to move your pieces across the board so that they occupy the opening positions of the opponent with matching pieces from your own side. For example, the single green star must end up at the starting square of the single red star.
The players take turns to move one piece at a time. A piece is moved diagonally either forwards or backwards onto an adjacent vacant square. A piece must jump over an opponent’s piece diagonally in the forward direction only onto a vacant square immediately beyond it. There is no capture and pieces are not removed from the board. If a player omits to jump over the opponent’s piece the opponent calls out “Salta" to remind him that the jump must be performed. The player must take back his last move and perform the jump. A piece may make several jumps in a turn and must do so if possible. If a player has several alternate jumps possible he may choose which jump to perform.
A piece may also jump over a piece of the same color.
The winner is the first player to occupy his opponent’s starting positions.
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Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 10 x 10 grid of 2” squares on a piece of firm card. Small counters marked with the symbols will serve as the pieces.
Dara
Dara is a two-player board game from Nigeria played by the Darakari people. The game is usually played with stones on a wooden board with holes cut into it but is also played using holes scooped from the ground. The goal of the game is for a player to move their pieces to form a line of three pieces along a rank or file which allows the player to capture one of the opponent's pieces.
Rules
The game of Dara is played by two players on a 5 x 6 board shown in Figure 1. Each player has 12 pieces. One player plays black and the other plays white. The board is empty at the start of the game. The game is played in two phases. In the first phase called the Drop phase the players take turns in placing one piece at a time into an empty hole on the board. In this phase a player may place no more than two of his pieces in adjacent holes. Figure 2 shows that black may not drop any pieces into the crossed holes. The placement of pieces in the Drop phase is very important as this determines the possible moves during the second phase.
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Figure 1 Dara board
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• - •
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Figure 2 Illegal drops
After all 24 stones have been placed on the board, the second phase or the Move phase begins. Players then take turns moving their pieces orthogonally in any direction into an adjacent vacant hole. The players attempt to make an orthogonal (not diagonal) line of three pieces.
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When a player has formed a line of three pieces the player may remove from the board any one of the opponent’s pieces which itself is not part of a line of three pieces. Lines of four or more pieces are not allowed.
If a player forms two lines of three pieces in one move during the Move phase, only one of the opponent's pieces can be removed
The game ends when one player is reduced to two pieces and can no longer make any lines of three pieces. The other player wins the game.
Variants
There are some variations of the rules: When a player has formed a line of three pieces the player may remove from the board any one of the opponent’s pieces including those in a line of three pieces. A player may form a line of four pieces but it does not count towards a capture of an opponent's piece.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2’’ spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the counters.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 12” x 14" piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles are then used as the pieces.
Five-field Kono
Five-field Kono is a two player game from Korea.
Rules
The game of Five-field Kono is played by two players using a 5 x 5 board which consists of a grid of 25 intersections or points with orthogonal connecting lines. One player has seven black pieces and the other seven white pieces. The game starts with the pieces arranged on the board as shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 Five-field Kono board
The goal of the game is to move the pieces across the board to occupy their opponent’s starting points. Each player takes turns moving one piece at a time diagonally forwards or backwards to an adjacent empty point. A piece may not jump over another piece. The first player to move all their pieces across the board wins the game.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2’’ spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces.
Mu Torere
Mu Torere is a Maori game played in New Zealand on an eight-pointed star-shaped board with a central circle. The center is called the putahi and the star points are called kewai. The Mu Torere board may be marked on the ground. The game is popular with the Ngati Maori people from the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.
Rules
Each player has four pieces. At the start of the game each player’s pieces are placed on adjacent four points of the star as shown in Figure 1. The object of the game is to block the opponent’s pieces so that they cannot play.
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The players take turns with black moving first. Three moves are possible in the game:
1.	A piece may be moved along a line directly from one kewai to a vacant adjacent kewai.
2.	A piece may be moved from a kewai to the putahi only if one or both the adjacent kewai is occupied by the opponent’s piece or pieces.
3.	A piece may be moved from the putahi to a vacant kewai.
Figure 1 Mu Torere board
Figure 2 Mu Torere trap
There are situations that will result in a player being blocked by his opponent. In Figure 2 Black is to move and has the choice of 3-4 or 5-4. The move 5-4 will result in White moving 6-5 which will have Black blocked. Note the V shape formed by White’s pieces on 6. 7 and the putahi. This V shape must not be allowed to split open.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing an eight-pointed star on a piece of firm card. Go stones, buttons or pebbles will serve as the pieces. Home woodworkers can use a router to make a star of holes on an 8" x 8” piece of wood. Play Mu Torere the next time you are at the beach.
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Nine Mens Morris
Nine Men’s Morris is believed to have originated in the ancient Egypt. The earliest known board for the game includes diagonal lines and was cut into the roofing slabs of the temple at Kurna in Egypt c. 1400 B.C. It is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, and Merrills. The name comes from the Latin word merellus, which means a counter or gaming piece. The game was very popular in medieval England with boards found carved in the cloister seats of many cathedrals. Titiana in Shakespeare's 4 Midsummer Night’s Dream mentions that it no longer played “the nine men’s morris is filled up with mud”.
Rules
The game of Nine Men’s Morris is played by two players using a board shown below. The board consists of a grid of 24 intersections with connecting lines shown in Figure 1. One player has nine black pieces and the other nine white pieces. The game starts with an empty board.
Figure 1 Nine Men’s Morris
The game is in two phases: placing the pieces (the drop phase) and moving the pieces the move phase). The players first take turns placing one piece at a time at empty intersections on the board. If a player is able to form a row of three pieces along one of the board's lines, called a "mill", he may remove any one of his opponent's pieces from the board. A player must avoid removing a piece from a formed mill if possible. Removed pieces may not be placed on the board again.
Once all the pieces have been placed on the board each player takes turns moving one piece at a time along lines between adjacent intersections on the board. If a player is able to form a mill, he may remove any one of his opponent's pieces from the board. The player must remove a piece that is not in a mill if possible.
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A player wins the game if their opponent is surrounded and cannot move their pieces, or if their opponent only has two remaining pieces.
Variants
There is an optional rule that when a player is reduced to three pieces, his pieces may jump or fly to any empty intersection, not only adjacent ones. There are also some board variants shown in Figure 2. There is also a Twelve Men's Morris which is similar to the South African game Morabaraba.
Figure 2 Variants of Nine Men’s Morris
The circular variant of Three Men’s Morris is called Round Merrills. It is played with three or four men per player. The players attempt to form a diagonal mill, the first player to do so wins. The only way to do so is the own the center spot and so the starting player plays there although he can be forced to abandon it.
The games of Achi played in Ghana and Tapatan played in the Philippines use a square board with 9 points with diagonal lines joining the corners. Each player has three pieces and the same rules are used. In India the game of Tant Fant is played on an Achi board with each player’s three pieces being set up on opposite edges at the start of the game. The game of Picaria played by the Zuni Indians of New Mexico on a board shown in Figure 3 also uses three pieces per player.
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Figure 3 Picaria board
Figure 4 Shisima board
Shisima (meaning body of water) is played in Kenya on an octagonal board. Each player has three pieces called imbalavali meaning water insects which are arranged initially as shown in Figure 4. The pieces may be moved to an adjacent empty point and the goal is to get three pieces in a row through the center point.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters, dried beans or short pasta noodles may serve as the pieces.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 16" x 16" piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles or painted pebbles may be used as the pieces.
Morabaraba
Morabaraba or Twelve Men’s Morris is played today in South Africa. It was introduced by the British into South Africa in the 1820s as the game of Morris. The name Morabaraba, derived from the English name Morris, is the Shangaan name. It is also known in South Africa by the Xhosa name Umlabalaba.
Rules
Morabaraba is played by two players using a board shown below. The board consists of a grid of 24 intersections with connecting lines. One player has 12 black pieces and the other 12 white pieces. The pieces are usually called cows. The game starts with an empty board.
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Figure 1 Morabaraba board
Figure 2 Umlabalaba board
The game is in two phases: placing the pieces and moving the pieces. The players first take turns placing one piece at a time at empty intersections on the board. If a player is able to form a row of three pieces along one of the board's lines, called a "mill"; he may remove (or shoot) any one of his opponent's pieces (cows) from the board. A player must avoid removing a piece from an opponent’s formed mill if possible. If more than one mill is formed in a turn, only one of the opponent’s pieces may be removed from the board. Removed pieces may not be placed on the board again.
Once all the pieces have been placed on the board each player takes turns moving one piece at a time along lines between adjacent intersections on the board. If a player is able to form a mill, he may remove any one of his opponent's pieces from the board. The player must remove a piece that is not in a mill if possible. Mills may be broken and remade in subsequent turns to capture another piece.
A player wins the game if their opponent is surrounded and cannot move their pieces, or if their opponent only has two remaining pieces.
Variants
The Umlababa board is shown in Figure 2. It is played using the same rules.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card using 2” spacing between the lines. Checkers counters will serve as the pieces.
Home woodworkers can make a board by boring dimples into a 16" x 16" piece of wood and then making grooves on it for the lines, or alternatively marking lines on it. The line spacing should be 2”. Colored marbles or painted pebbles may be used as the pieces.
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Go
Go is a strategic two player board game, also known as l-Go (Japanese). It originated in China as Wei-qi and it also played in Korea as Baduk. It is popular in internationally and is organized by the International Go Federation.
Rules
Go is played by two players on a 19 x 19 grid that has 361 points of intersection as shown in Figure 1. Nine of the intersections are marked for orientation. The goal of the game is to occupy and surround more territory than your opponent.
Figure 1 Go board
Normally 181 black and 180 white stones are used, enough to cover the board. The board is initially empty and play starts with black placing a stone on any intersection on the board. The players take turns each placing one stone on the board. Once a stone is placed on the board it may not move. A player may pass his turn at any time. If both players pass in succession the game ends.
A stone that is joined by a line to a vacant point is said to have a ‘liberty’. It has four liberties if placed on an empty board, three if is on an edge and two if it is in a corner. A stone is captured if it is surrounded and has no liberties. Captured stones are removed from the board. A black stone played at the points marked X in Figure 2 will capture single stones.
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Figure 2 Single stone capture
Figure 3 Group capture
A group of stones of the same color connected together orthogonally is called an army. A group of two or more stones is captured if all stones in the group are deprived of their liberties. A white stone played at X and Z in Figure 3 will capture groups of black stones. White would gain 3 points of territory for a play at X and 10 points for a play at Z. The point marked with the Z in Figure 3 is called an internal liberty or an eye. A stone cannot be played at an opponent's eye as this would result in its capture. Thus a white stone could not be played at Z unless all the external liberties of the black army had been previously completely occupied by white stones. Thus a stone cannot be played at X in Figure 4. In addition a stone cannot be played at its own eye as this would result in capture of its army. This is the suicide rule. A stone or group is said to be in atari if it has only one liberty and may be captured on the next move.
Figure 4 Illegal move
Figure 5 Ko situation
A suicide move is allowed if the move results in a capture. In Figure 5A a black stone may be played at the center of the white stones at point X which results the capture of one white stone as shown in Figure 5B. White could respond by playing at point Z to capture the black stone and this would result in an endless situation of repeated captures. The rule of Ko prevents the repeated capture by requiring the second player to play the next move elsewhere on the board. If there are three Kos on the board the game is declared a draw.
A group can be made invulnerable to capture if it has two eyes since the opponent cannot play on one of the eyes as this would violate the suicide rule. These are called live groups. The minimum number of stones to make a safe group is 10 stones, eight stones at the edge, and six stones at the corner as shown in Figure 6.
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Figure 6 Two eye groups
If opposing stones are so interlocked that neither player can attack the other without losing his own stones this is called a seki and the positions are left untouched until the end of the game. For example in Figure 7 neither player can play in the points marked X as this would result in capture of their pieces. The points within this area do not count to either player.
Capturing territory is key to the game of Go. A player's territory consists of all the empty points he has occupied or surrounded. There may also be neutral territory that does not belong to either player.
In Figure 8 the point A is adjacent to a black stone so A does not belong to White's territory. However, A is connected orthogonally (by the red line) to В which is adjacent to a white stone so A does not belong to Black's territory either and therefore A is neutral territory. The point C is connected to D, which is adjacent to a white stone. But C is also connected to E, which is adjacent to a black stone, therefore C is neutral territory. The points F and G are also neutral territory. The point H is adjacent only to black stones and is not connected to any other points so H is black territory. Points I and J and are black territory, and К is white territory.
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Figure 7 Seki	Figure 8 Go counting
There are two scoring systems to determine the winner, territory scoring according to Japanese and Korean rules, and stone or area scoring according to Chinese rules.
In territory scoring the winner is the player with the greater number of empty points the player has completely surrounded by stones of his color minus the number of stones their opponent has captured.
In stone or area scoring the winner is the player with the greater number of stones of his color on the board plus empty points completely surrounded only by stones of his color.
Construction
A Go board can be easily made by drawing a 19 x 19 grid of Г squares on a piece of firm card.
Beginners should learn to play on a 9 x 9 board.
Hasami Shogi
There are two Japanese games of Hasami Shogi (sandwiching chess), one is a game of position and the other is a war game. They are both two player games played on a 9 x 9 board.
Hasami Shogi 1
Rules
This is also called Dai Hasami Shogi. The goal of this game is to form five pieces in a row other than the two home rows. The game is played on board of 9 x 9 squares and each player has 18 pieces.
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Figure 2 Hasami Shogi capture
The game starts with the pieces arranged as shown in Figure 1. The players take turns to move one piece orthogonally to any vacant position on the board. A piece can also jump over any other piece but only to a vacant square immediately beyond it, but it cannot jump over a piece and a vacant square in the same move. Pieces are not captured by jumping.
A piece is captured if it is trapped by two opposing pieces along a row or column (Figure ЗА). Any number of contiguous pieces in a straight line may be captured in this manner with an opposing piece at each end. There is an optional rule that a piece may also be captured if it is trapped in a corner (Figure 3B). When the capture happens all the captured pieces are removed from the board.
A player may move a piece between two opposing pieces without being captured. However, if the opposing player then moves one of the trapping pieces away in any direction, on the next turn he may return to the original position and capture the piece.
The winner is the first player to form an uninterrupted line of five pieces either orthogonally or diagonally as shown in Figure 4. The game is a draw if one player only has four pieces left.
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Figure 4 Winning lines
Hasami Shogi 2
Rules
The goal of this game is to capture all the opponent’s pieces. The game is played on board of 9 x 9 squares and each player has 9 pieces.
Figure 5 Hasami Shogi 2
The game starts with the pieces arranged as shown in Figure 5. The players take turns to move one piece orthogonally to any vacant position on the board. A piece cannot jump over any other piece.
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A piece is captured if it is trapped by two opposing pieces along a row or column. Any number of contiguous pieces in a straight line may be captured in this manner with an opposing piece at each end. When the capture happens all the captured pieces are removed from the board.
A player may move a piece between two opposing pieces without being captured. However, if the opposing player then moves one of the trapping pieces away in any direction, on the next move he may return to the original position and capture the piece.
The winner is the player who has captured all his opponent’s pieces.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card. Checkerboard counters or buttons will serve as the pieces.
Go-Moku (Renju)
Go-Moku and Renju are two-player Japanese games traditionally played with Go pieces on a Go board. They may also be played as a paper and pencil game because once a piece has been placed on the board it is not moved or removed from the board. The game is also called Five-in-a-Row or Go-Bang. Renju is a somewhat more complex game than Go-Moku since Renju has some restrictions to black’s play because black has the advantage of always starting first. While Go-Moku is considered an easy family game. Renju is serious competition and there are even world championships.
Go-Moku Rules
Go-Moku is played by two players on the points of intersection of a 19 x 19 grid as shown in
Figure 1. The goal of the game is to form a continuous line of five pieces orthogonally or
Figure 2 Go-Moku Five-in-a-row
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The board is initially empty and play starts with black placing a piece on any intersection point on the board. The players take turns each placing one piece on the board. Once a piece is placed on the board it may not be moved. The players attempt to form an orthogonal or diagonal line of five pieces. The first player to do so wins the game.
Strategy
An open three is a line of two or three pieces of the same color that can potentially be made into a line of four pieces as shown marked with an A in Figure 3. An open four is a line of two, three or four pieces of the same color that can potentially be made into a winning line of five pieces in a row as shown with a В in Figure 4. Half-open fours are marked with a C in Figure 4. If a player has formed an open four, he has won the game because whichever end the opponent blocks he may play on the other end and achieve the winning five pieces in a row.
Figure 3 Open Threes (A)
Figure 4 Open (B) and half-open (C) Fours
Knowing that open threes and fours will be blocked a player should attempt to create a fork which is two lines of threes and fours. A fork (F) can be two open threes (3x3) shown in figure 5, two open fours (4x4) shown in Figure 6, or one open three and one four (3x4) shown in Figure 7.
Figure 5 Double Three (3x3) Forks
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Figure 7 Three-Four (3x4) Forks
Renju Rules
Renju is played by two players on the points of a 15 x 15 grid as shown in Figure 8. Renju has the same rules as Go-Moku but with the following three restrictions to black to balance the game. This is where it is different from Go-Moku:
1.	Black is not allowed to make the three-three (3x3) fork.
2.	Black is not allowed to make the four-four (4x4) fork.
3.	Black is not allowed to make 6 or more stones in a row.
The forbidden moves (X) for Black are shown in Figure 9. White has no restrictions, and white can win the game even with 6 or more stones in a row. Black's only allowed winning fork is the three-four (3x4) fork.
Figure 9 Forbidden moves for Black
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Construction
A Go-Moku board can be easily made by drawing a grid of 1” squares on a piece of firm card.
Rente
Rente was invented in 1978 by Gary Gabrel in Oklahoma, USA. It is a modified version of the Japanese game Ninuki-Renju. It is played with Go stones on a 19 x 19 Go board. It differs from Go-Moku or Renju in that stones may be captured. There are two ways to win Rente (meaning five): either to form a continuous line of five stones, called a pente, orthogonally or diagonally, or to capture five or more pairs of your opponent's stones.
Rules
Pente is played on the points of intersection of a 19 x 19 grid as shown in Figure 1. The basic game is played with two players but is also possible to play with four players.
Figure 1 Pente board
The board is initially empty and play starts with black placing a stone on the center point of the board. The first player has a slight advantage which may be eliminated by having the loser of the first game start the next game. The players then take turns each placing one stone on any point on the board.
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A pair of stones is vulnerable to capture when they are adjacent to each other. A player may capture the pair of stones by bracketing the two ends of the pair in a straight line with his own stones. The captured stones are removed from the board. Two or more pairs of stones may be captured in a single move.
A stone may be played onto any point one any point on the board even if had been previously occupied by captured stones, and even if it forms a pair between two of the opponent's stones. A pair formed between two of the opponent’s stones cannot be captured.
The players also attempt to form an orthogonal or diagonal line of five stones. The first player to do so wins the game. If a player has formed an unblocked four-in-a-row, called a 'tessera' or open four, he has won the game because whichever end the opponent blocks he may play on the other end and achieve the winning five-in-a-row. If a player has an unblocked three-in-a-row. called a ‘tria’ or open three, it should be blocked immediately to prevent the formation of a tessera.
Variants
Keryo- Pente
There is a variant called Keryo-Pente in which either two or three connected stones may be captured, and the player who first creates row of five or more stones or captures fifteen or more of the opponent’s stones wins. This was invented by Rollie Tesh in 1983.
Four-Player Pente
The four player version of the game requires two additional sets of colored stones. The players play as teams and sit opposite each other. Players take turns in a clockwise direction. The goal of the team is the form a continuous line of five stones orthogonally or diagonally, or to capture ten or more of their opponent's stones.
Captures are made in the same way as two-player Pente, and also by mixed capture. In mixed capture, the capturing stones must be of the same color, but the captured stones may be mixed and even belong to your partner. However, stones captured from your partner to not count towards the winning count of 10. Partners may not discuss specific tactics during the game.
Make your own board
A Pente board can be easily made by drawing a grid of Г squares on a piece of firm card. Go stones can be used as the pieces.
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Pah Turn
The game of Pah Turn originated in Mesopotamia and Assyria and is at least 3,800 years old making it one of the oldest board games in history. A board made of ivory was discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian king Reny-Seneb, of the 12th dynasty, and dated at around 1800 BC.
Rules
The game of Pah Turn is played by two players on a 7x7 board shown in Figure 1. Each player has 24 pieces, one black and the other white. Before the game starts the players decide to randomly close off an odd number of squares (or black holes) on the board from play. No pieces can be placed on these black holes shown as an X in Figure 1. The players decide the number of black holes, and then decide randomly which squares on the board will be the black holes.
Usually, the number of black holes will be either 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 or 13. This leaves an even number ofsquares available for play.
The players take turns to place their pieces on any available vacant square on the board. The players attempt to form the longest possible orthogonal (not diagonal) straight lines on the board. Points are scored for getting three or more pieces in the line. The number of points scored is:
•	3-in-a-row: 3 points
•	4-in-a-row: 10 points
•	5-in-a-row: 25 points
•	6-in-a-row: 56 points
•	7-in-a-row: 119 points
In Figure 1 white has 1 line of 4 pieces and 1 line of 2 pieces, with a score of 10 + 0 = 10 points, and black has 2 lines of 3 pieces and 1 line of 2 pieces, with a score of3 + 3 + 0 = 6 points.
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The game is finished when there are no vacant squares on the board. The player with higher amount of points is the winner. If both players have the same points, the game is a draw.
The random black holes help reduce the first player advantage. To further balance the game, the pie rule is used in which the second player has the option of swapping sides after the first move.
Conspirators
Conspirators (or Conspirateurs) is a French two player board game played during the late 18 th century. This is an interesting variation on race games where the players must move their pieces along various different paths to reach a limited number of destination shelters.
Rules
The game is played on the intersecting points of a 16 x 16 square board. There is a rectangle of 9x5 points at the center of the board and 39 points on the edge are marked as shelters. There are 40 pieces with each player having twenty pieces of their own color.
Figure 2 Conspirators board
Initially the board is empty and the players start by taking turns to place one piece at a time on any of the 45 points in the central rectangle. These are the conspirators meeting in secret.
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When all 40 pieces have been placed in the central rectangle, the next phase of the game starts with a warning of discovery being given. The conspirators must flee to the shelters at the edge of the board. Each player in turn must move one of his pieces in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally, one point at a time towards one of the 39 shelters.
A player may jump over any other piece if there is a vacant point immediately beyond it. Multiple jumps are also possible. There is no capture.
A player wins the game if all his pieces are able to reach the shelters at the edge of the board.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the 16 x 16 squared grid of 1%" squares on a piece of firm card. Buttons, Go or Checkers pieces will serve as the conspirator pieces.
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Mancala Games
Mancala
Mancala is these days the name given to a family of board games played throughout Africa, the Caribbean, India and south-east Asia. These games are usually played on wooden boards with two, three or four rows of holes carved into them. Sometimes these games are played in a set of holes scooped in the ground. The counters used for these games include stones, marbles, seeds, beans, cowrie shells or small lumps of dung.
Mancala is an Arabic word meaning “to transfer”. Mancala games have the most diverse set of names of any board game; there are hundreds of different names for the game of Mancala.
The game likely originated in Africa and spread through Bantu expansion and then to south-east Asia by Arab traders and to the Caribbean by the slave trade. The rules vary widely and this book will only describe the details of the more widely played games and those that are representative of a particular form of Mancala.
The Mancala family is unique in its many different variants and names. The Mancala family of games may be grouped by the number of rows used in the game;
1.	Two-rows
2.	Three-rows
3.	Four-rows
These games may also be classified into single lap games and multiple lap games. In single lap games a player lifts the stones from a hole and distributes one stone per hole around the board in a counter-clockwise direction, and when the last stone has been placed in a hole his turn is over.
In multiple lap games a player lifts the stones from a hole and distributes one stone per hole around the board in a counter-clockwise direction, but when the last stone is placed in a hole that contains stones, all the stones now in that hole are picked up and distributed in another lap around the board. This is repeated until the last stone is placed in an empty hole; the players turn is then over.
Two-row games are by far the most widespread variant of Mancala. Wari is a two-row variant of the Mancala board game played throughout West Africa, the Caribbean and parts of Brazil. There are many other two-row Mancala games played as shown in the table below. Many of the games are identical but others have different board sizes and rules.
I Name	Size	People	Region	fl
Wari	2x6	Diverse	West Africa
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Oware	2x6	Akan	Ghana
Warri	2x6		Caribbean
Bao	2x 12	Samburo	Kenya
Endodoi	2x6,2x 10	Masai	Kenya
Ayoayo	2x6	Yoruba	Nigeria
Teg re	2x6	Dorze	Ethiopia
Dabuda	2x 10	Afar	Djobouti
Layli Goobalay	2x6, 2x8, 2 x 12		Somalia
Gamacha	2 x 12	Hadiya	Ethiopia
Mbothe	2x 10	Pokomo	Kenya
Lamlameta	2 x 12	Konso	Ethiopia
Pallam Kuzhi	2x7		Southern India
Pallanguli	2x7		Southern India, Sri Lanka
Olinda	2x7		Sri Lanka
Dakon	2x7, 2x8, 2 x 10		Java, Indonesia
Chongkak	2x7		Malaysia
Chonka, Sungka	2x7		Philippines
Ot-tjin	2x10		Borneo. Indonesia
Motiq	2x7	Kedang	Lomblen Island, Indonesia
Four-row games are played exclusively in central and southern Africa. Each player has an inner and outer row and their paths of play do not overlap like two-row Mancala. Four-row games may be divided into those in which the captured pieces are removed from the board and those in which captured pieces are re-entered onto the board. The table below shows the names of four-row variants played in central and southern Africa and the tribe that plays it.
Name	Size	Remove /Reenter	People	Region
Njombwa	4x8	Remove	Yao	Mozambique, Malawi
Maruba	4x8	Remove	Pedi	Limpopo, South Africa
Mefuvha (Mofuba)	4x8	Remove	Venda	Limpopo, South Africa
Nchomb	4 x 10, 4 x 20	Remove	Angoni	Malawi
wa				
(Nsolo) Nchuwa	4 x 6, 4 x 9, 4 x 12	Remove	Atonga	Malawi
Tschuba	4 x 8, 4 x 10, 4 x 16	Remove	Shangaan	Mozambique
Msuwa	4x 10	Remove	Manyanja	Malawi
Tsoro	4 x 8, 4 x 12. 4 x	Remove	Shona,	Zimbabwe
	15		Matebele	
Mulabala ba	4x8	Remove	Lozi	Zambia
//Hus	4x 12	Reenter	Namaqua	Namibia
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Otjitoto	4x12	Reenter	Herero	Namibia
Leia	4x7	Remove	Kuba	Kasai, Congo
Dwong	4x8	Remove	Alur	Northern Congo
Baruma	4x8	Remove	Lugbara	Northern Congo
// is the symbol for the click sound used by the Khoisan or Bushman peoples.
The three-row variant of the game is the rarest form and is only played in parts of Ethiopia and Sudan under the name Gabata.
Rules
Mancala is played by two players on a board of two rows of six holes as well as two larger holes called kalahas at each end. Each player starts the game with 24 stones arranged as shown in Figure 1. Each player moves the stones in a counter-clockwise direction using the 12 smaller holes and the large kalaha hole to their right.
Figure 1 Mancala board
At his turn, each player picks up the contents of any hole in a row on his side of the board and then places one stone at a time in each hole in a counter-clockwise direction from the start hole. When the end of a player’s row is reached he places one stone in the kalaha to his right and then continues placing the stones into his opponent’s holes as shown in Figure 2. If the last stone is placed in the kalaha the player gets another turn.
Figure 2 Possible Mancala initial move
If the last stone is placed into an empty hole on his side of the board to then any stones from the opponent's hole directly opposite are captured and placed in the player’s kahala.
The winner is the player who captures the most stones.
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Construction
A Mancala board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4" diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. You can also collect 12 shallow plastic food containers (about 3” diameter and 1!4“ deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card or wood (size approx. 1/4” x 12” x 24”). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use %" diameter beads, pebbles or marbles as your stones. An egg carton can also be used although the holes are not really large enough to grab the stones with ease.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Mancala board by shaping holes of about 3” diameter into a piece of wood of size 10" x 40" x 17?” A hole with the cross-section dimensions shown in Figure 3 will provide the greatest ease of picking up the stones.
Figure 3 Mancala hole cross-section
Wari
Wari is a two-row variant of the Mancala board game played in throughout West Africa from Senegal to Gabon. It is played on a wooden board with holes carved on it. It is also played in the Caribbean and parts of Brazil.
Rules
Wari is played by two players on a board of two rows of six holes. There are two larger holes at each end of the board used to store captured stones, these are not used for normal play as in the case of Mancala. Each player starts the game with 24 stones arranged as shown in Figure 1.
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и ник
( Store It—	V store
xx xx :x n tr
Figure 1 Wari board
At his turn, each player picks up the contents of any hole in a row on his side of the board and then places one stone at a time in each hole in a counter-clockwise direction from the start hole. When the end of a player's row is reached he continues placing the stones in his opponent's holes as shown in Figure 2. The second player may lift his stones and play as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2 Wari initial move
Figure 3 Second player move
If the last stone is placed into an opponent’s hole to make the final count of stones in that hole equal to 2 or 3 then these stones are captured and placed in the player’s store as shown in Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 4 Wari capture (before)
Figure 5 Wari capture (after)
In addition the stones in a contiguous sequence of 2s and 3s on the opponent's side of the board immediately preceding the captured hole are also captured as shown in Figures 6 and 7. A player may not capture all stones on his opponent's side in a single move. The player may make the move but it does not capture any stones.
Figure 6 Multiple capture (before)
Figure 7 Multiple capture (after)
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The winner is the player who captures the most stones.
Variants
The table below shows the names of Wari used by the people of west Africa.
Name	People	Region
Wari	Wolof	Senegal
Wari	Mandingo	Gambia
Awele	Fulani	Guinea
Kboo, Kbo	Gola	Liberia
Aware	Kru	Ivory Coast
Wari	Ashanti	Ghana
Ayoayo, Ayo	Yoruba	Nigeria
Kale	Fang	Cameroon
Construction
A Wari board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4" diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 12 shallow food containers (about 3-4” diameter and 114" deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card or wood (size approx. 12” x 24 x 14”). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use 14" diameter beads, pebbles or marbles are your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Wari board by shaping holes of about 3” diameter into a piece of wood of size 10” x 40” x 114”. The ideal cross-section dimensions for the holes are described in the chapter on Mancala.
Layli Goobalay
Layli Goobalay (Leyla Gobale) is two-row multiple lap version of the Mancala family that is played in Somalia. It is usually played in holes scooped from the ground. The counters may be seeds, stones or pieces of dried camel dung.
Figure 1 2x6 Layli Goobalay board
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Rules
Layli Goobalay is played by two players on a board of two rows of 6, 8 or 12 holes with four seeds in each hole at the start of play as shown in Figure 1.
The players take turns. Each player picks up the contents of any hole from the row on his side of the board and then places one seed at a time in each hole in a clockwise direction from the start hole in the manner of sowing seeds. The player must not pick up seeds from a qur hole (defined below).
If the last seed is dropped in an occupied hole, the player takes its contents, including the last dropped seed, and continues to distribute the seeds in a clockwise direction.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the opponent’s side, the player’s turn ends and no capture is made.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player’s side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite contains one, two, four or more seeds, the contents of both holes is captured and removed from the board, and the player’s turn ends.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player's side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite contains three seeds, one of these seeds is moved into the hole where the player's move ended (making two and two) and these two holes form a player's qur. A qur may never be emptied by either player. Seeds are added to a qur during the normal course of distribution. A move may not begin at a qur and if the last seed of a lap by either player lands on the qur the player’s turn ends. A player may have more than one qur.
The game is over when one player has no seeds on his side of the board, except possibly for some qurs and is therefore unable to make a move. Each player counts the seeds from their qur together with the seeds from their captures. The winner is the player with the greatest number of seeds.
Construction
A board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4” diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 12 shallow food containers (about 3-4’’ diameter and 114" deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card or wood (size approx. 12” x 24 x 14"). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use 14" diameter beads, pebbles or marbles are your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a board by shaping holes of about 3” diameter into a piece of wood of size 10" x 40” x 114”. The ideal cross-section dimensions for the holes are described in the chapter on Mancala.
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Maruba
Maruba (or Moruba) is four-row multiple lap version of the Mancala family that is played by the Pedi people in the Limpopo and Mpumalunga provinces of South Africa. It is usually played on a wooden board with holes carved on it although sometimes the game is played in holes scooped from the ground. In Maruba the captured stones are removed from the board. The counters may be stones or seeds. A picture of a similar Mefuvha game played by the Venda people of South Africa is shown below.
Rules
Maruba is played by two players on a board of four rows of eight holes. Each player starts the game with 29 stones arranged as shown in Figure 1. Each player puts two stones in each hole of his outer row. In the inner row the players put two stones in every hole except the one on their extreme left, which is left empty, and the one next to it, into which a single stone is placed.
The players take turns. Each player picks up the contents of any hole in his two rows (the two rows nearest him) which contains two or more stones and then places one stone at a time in each hole in a counter-clockwise direction from the start hole. The player must only place the stones in holes in his own two rows.
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If the last stone is placed into a hole that contains one or more stones the contents of this hole and the stone just dropped into the hole are picked up and the process is repeated for another lap around the board.
If the last stone is placed into an empty hole in the player’s outer row the move is over and his opponent plays.
If the last stone is placed into an empty hole in the player’s inner row and his opponent’s inner row hole directly opposite is occupied, the player captures (eats) the contents of both his opponent’s opposite holes (from the inner and outer rows) and removes them from the board. The player's turn is over. If the opponent’s opposite inner row hole is empty, no capture is made and the player’s turn is over.
Single stones can only be used to begin a move when no other hole on the player’s side contains more than one stone. In this case, single stones can only move if the adjacent hole is empty.
The winner is the player who captures the most stones.
Construction
A Maruba board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4" diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 12 shallow food containers (about 3-4" diameter and Г deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card or wood (size approx. 16” x 32 x !4”). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use !4” diameter beads, pebbles or marbles as your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Maruba board by shaping holes of about 3” diameter into a piece of wood of size 16" x 40” x 172”. The ideal cross-section dimensions for the holes are described in the chapter on Mancala.
//Hus
//Hus is four-row multiple lap version of the Mancala family that is played by the Namaqua and Berg-Damara people of Namibia. It called Otjitoto by the Hereros of Namibia. The // refers to the click sound of the Khoisan languages. It is usually played in holes scooped from the ground. The counters may be seeds or stones. //Hus has the characteristic that captured seeds are reentered into play and not removed from the board.
Rules
//Hus is played by two players on a board of four rows of 12 holes. Each player starts the game with 36 seeds arranged as shown in Figure 1. Each player puts two seeds in each hole of his outer row and in each of six rightmost holes of his inner row.
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The players take turns. Each player picks up the contents of any hole in his two rows (the two rows nearest him) which contains two or more seeds and then places one seed at a time in each hole in a counter-clockwise direction from the start hole in the manner of sowing seeds. The player must only place the seeds in holes in his own two rows.
If the last seed is placed into an occupied hole, the contents of this hole and the seed just dropped into the hole are picked up and the sowing process is repeated.
However, if the last seed is placed into an occupied hole in the player’s inner row and his opponent’s inner row hole directly opposite is also occupied, the player picks up the contents of both his opponent's opposite holes (from the inner and outer rows) and continues sow these stones onto his own side of the board beginning with the next hole following the hole into which he dropped his last seed. If only the inner hole of the opponent is occupied, but not the hole in his outer row, only the contents of the inner hole are captured and sown.
If the last seed is placed into an empty hole in the player’s outer row his turn is over and his opponent plays.
The game continues until one player has reduced his opponent to single seeds.
Variants
//Hus is sometimes played on board with 16 or 24 holes per row.
Construction
A //Hus board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4" diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 24 shallow food containers (about 3-4” diameter and Г deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card (size approx. 16" x 40”). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use 1/2 - %" diameter pebbles are your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Maruba board by shaping hemispherical holes of about 37г" diameter into a piece of wood of size 16” x 40” x 1!4".
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Gabata
Gabata is a three-row single lap version of the Mancala board game that is played in northern Ethiopia and Sudan. It is usually played on a wooden board with holes carved on it.
Rules
Gabata is played by two players on a board of three rows of six holes. Each player starts the game with 27 stones arranged with three stones in each hole as shown in Figure 1. Each player follows the path shown in Figure 1: from left to right along the player’s back row, then from right to left along the three right-most holes of the middle row, then from right to left along the opponent's back row, and finally from left to right along the three left-most holes of the middle row.
Figure 1 Gabata board
The game starts when both players simultaneously lift all the stones from one of their holes and then sow one stone into each hole along the path. When the last stone is placed into a hole, the contents of that hole are picked up and the sowing is repeated. This continues until one player sows a stone into an empty hole.
In the next phase of the game the players take turns starting with the player who sowed the last stone into an empty hole. The player lifts all the stones from one of his holes and then sows one stone into each hole along the path. When the last stone is placed into a hole, the contents of that hole are picked up and the sowing is repeated. This continues until one player sows a stone into an empty hole
If the last stone is sowed into one of his opponent’s empty holes the player's turn is over and his opponent plays.
If the last stone is sowed into one of the player's own holes, the player then captures all the opponent’s stones in the same column of holes and continues to sow using the single stone from the last hole. Captured stones are removed from the board and placed in the player’s store.
If the last stone is sowed into one of the player’s own holes and there are no stones to capture the turn is over and his opponent plays.
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Play continues until one player has no stones in his holes when it his turn to play and his opponent captures the remaining stones on the board. The winner is the player who captures the most stones.
The players may also decide to continue the game with one or more rounds. This is done as follows: the player with the fewer stones takes them from his own store and places them with at most three per hole into his own holes starting at the left-most hole in the back row. The player with more stones takes the same number of stones from his own store and places them with a most three per hole into his own holes starting at the left-most hole in the back row; the balance of his stones remain in his store. Play resumes in turns starting with the player with the most stones.
Construction
A Gabata board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4’ diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 12 shallow food containers (about 3-4” diameter and 1%" deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card (size approx. 16” x 32"). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use 72" diameter pebbles, beads, or marbles as your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Gabata board by shaping holes of about 3” diameter into a piece of wood of size 16" x 40” x 1!4”. The ideal cross-section dimensions for the holes are described in the chapter on Mancala.
Dakon
Dakon is two-row multiple lap version of the Mancala family that is played in Java. It is usually played on a wooden board with holes carved in it. The counters may be seeds, stones or cowrie shells. The rules of Dakon are very similar to those of Chongkak played in Malaysia, and Sungka played in the Philippines.
Rules
Dakon is played by two players on a 2 x 7 board with seven seeds in each hole at the start of play as shown in Figure 1. Each player has a store hole at the right-side of the board.
Figure 1 Dakon board
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Board Games of the World
The players take turns A player begins a turn by picking up the contents of any hole from the row on his side of the board and then placing one seed at a time in each hole in a counterclockwise direction from the start hole in the manner of sowing seeds. The player also sows a seed into his own store but not into his opponent's store.
If the last seed is placed in an occupied hole, the player takes its contents, including the last dropped seed, and begins another lap by continuing to distribute the seeds in a counterclockwise direction.
If the last seed is placed into his store, the player begins another lap from any occupied hole on his side of the board.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the opponent's side, the player's turn ends and no capture is made.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player's side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite is occupied, the player captures the contents of his opponent's hole as well as the single seed just placed in the capturing hole and puts all these seeds into his store. The player’s turn ends.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player's side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite is vacant, the player’s turn ends.
If it is a player's turn to move and he has no seeds on his side of the board, he forfeits his turn.
The round is over when all seeds are in the two stores. The next round now starts. Each player using the seeds captured in the previous round fills as many holes as possible with seven seeds from his store beginning from his right-hand side. The player having the more seeds, having filled his seven holes, puts the remainder of his seeds back in his store. The player having the fewer seeds puts any extra seeds that do not make seven seeds in a hole back into his store. For example, if after the first round one player had 68 seeds and the other 30 seeds, the board would appear as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Board at start of subsequent round
The unfilled holes are marked with a piece of paper to indicate that these holes are out of play for the next round. The player who made the last move of the preceding round sows first in the new round. The second and following rounds are played with the same rules as the first round except that only the holes occupied at the start of the round are used. In later rounds it is possible that the player with fewer seeds may capture sufficient to reopen some previously closed holes.
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Board Games of the World
The game is over when one player has less than seven seeds and is unable to fill at least one hole for the new round.
Variants
Dakon is also played on 2 x 6, 2 x 8, 2 x 9 and 2x10 boards with the number of seeds per hole at the start of play being the same as the number of holes in a row.
The games Chongkak and Sungka have the same rules with the following exceptions:
•	Play is in the clockwise direction.
•	Each player's store to their left side of the board
•	Both players begin the first move of the first round simultaneously. After completely their opening move they then take turns with the player who first completed his move taking the first turn.
Construction
A Dakon board can be easily made by drawing a set of 4" diameter circles on a piece of butcher’s paper. Alternatively, collect 14 shallow food containers (about 3-4” diameter and 1%" deep would be ideal). Glue them to piece of firm card (size approx. 16” x 36"). For simple construction duct tape is wonderful for quick assembly. Use %" diameter pebbles, beads, or marbles as your stones.
Home woodworkers can fashion a Dakon board by shaping holes of about 3" diameter into a piece of wood of size 16" x 44" x Г/2". The ideal cross-section dimensions for the holes are described in the chapter on Mancala.
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Board Games of the World
Solitaire Games
Solitaire
Solitaire is played by a single person.
Rules
At the start of the game there are 32 pieces arranged on the board as shown in Figure 1. The player may jump orthogonally over one adjacent piece onto a vacant position beyond it. The jumped piece is removed from the board. The objective for the game is to remove all the pieces from the board with only one piece remaining on the center position.
Figure 1 Solitaire board
Figure 2 French Solitaire board
Variants
There are a number of board variants including French Solitaire which uses 29 pieces snowr in Figure 2.
Construction
The board can be easily made by drawing the grid on a piece of firm card Counters car se've as Solitaire pieces. A board can also be made from a square or round D'ece z' *ooc c. dot ng dimples into the wood and using marbles as Solitaire pieces.
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Board Games of the World
Game List
This is an alphabetic list of games with the country of origin and where it is known the approximate date that the game was first played.
•	Achi Ghana
•	Ad Elta Stelpur (Chasing the Girls) Iceland
•	Adugo Brazil
•	Agon (Queen’s Guard) France 18th century
•	Alquerque (El-qirkat) Middle East, c. 1400 B.C.
•	Asalto India, 19й1 century
•	Backgammon Europe
•	Bao West Africa
•	Bagh Chai (Tigers Moving) Nepal
•	Bashne Russia 18th century
•	Brax/Jinx, Britain, 19th century
•	Bizingo United States, c. 1850
•	Bul Belize
•	Chaturunga India 6th Century
•	Checkers/Draughts France, c. 1000 A.D.
•	Chess India
•	Chinese Checkers, Germany 1893
•	Chongkak Malaysia
•	Conspirators France, c. 1790
•	Courier Chess Germany c. 1200
•	Dablot Prejjesne Lapland
•	Dakon Java
. • Dama (Turkish Checkers) Turkey
•	Damas (Spanish Checkers) Spain
•	Damone Italy
•	Dara Nigeria
•	Fanorona Madagascar, c. 1680 A.D.
•	Fidchell Ireland
•	Frisian Draughts Holland c. 1700 A.D.
•	Fox and Geese Iceland, c. 1300 A.D.
•	Gabata Ethiopia, Sudan
•	Gala (Farmer's Chess) Europe, Middle ages
•	Go Japan, c. 2000 B.C.
•	Go-Moku (Renju) Japan
•	Halatafl (Hnefatafl group) Iceland, c. 1300 A.D.
•	Halma USA 1883 '
•	Hasami Shogi Japan
•	Hnefatafl Scandinavia, c. 1200 A.D.
•	Hex, Denmark 1942, USA 1947
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Board Games of the World
Hus Namibia
Janggi (Korean Chess) Korea
Jungle China
Kolowis Awithlaknannai Zuni people, N. America, c. 1500 A.D.
Konane Hawaii
Kono Korea
Layli Goobalay Somalia
Leopards and Cows India and Sri Lanka
Ludo England 1896
Maharajah and the Sepoys India
Makruk (Thai Chess) Thailand
Makyek Brunei
Mancala Africa
Maruba South Africa
Ming Mang Tibet
Morabaraba South Africa
Mu Torere New Zealand
Nardshir Persia
Nine Men's Morris Egypt, c. 1400 B.C.
Pachisi India
Pah Turn, Mesopotamia, 1800 B.C.
Parchis Spain
Patolli Mexico
Pente, USA, 1978
Puluc Guatemala
Queah Liberia
Reversi England, Japan
Ringo Germany, 1800s
Royal Game of Ur, Mesopotamia, 2500 B.C.
Salta Germany 1899
Seega Egypt, 18th century
Senet Egypt 3500 B.C.
Shashki (Russian Checkers) Russia
Shatranj (Persion Chess) Persia
Shogi (Japanese Chess) Japan
Sixteen Soldiers India ,Sri Lanka
Solitaire
Singka Philippines
Surakarta Java
Tablut (Hnefatafl group) Lapland, 14th century
Tabula Ancient Rome
Thaayam India
Twelve Men’s Morris Europe, 14th century
Wari West Africa
Weiqi (Go) China, c. 2000 B.C.
Yut Korea
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Board Games of the World
Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) China
Zamma Sahara, Africa Zohn Ahl, Oklahoma, USA
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Board Games of the World
Further Reading
Arnold, Peter. Ed. 1989. The Hamlyn Book of Games, Hamlyn
Bell, R.C. 1969. Board and Table Games of Many Civilizations, Oxford University Press
Bell, R.C 1980. Discovering Old Board Games, Shire Publications
Bell, Robbie and Cornelius, Michael. 1988. Board Games Round the World, Cambridge University Press
Botermans, Jack. 2008. The Book of Games, Sterling Publishing Co.
Brandreth, Gyles. 1981. The World’s Best Indoor Games, Pantheon Books
Culin, Stewart. 1907. Games of the North American Indians: Games of Chance, AMS Press
Culin, Stewart. 1895. Games of the Orient, Charles E. Tuttle Company
Donkers, Jeroen, et al 2000. Human versus Machine Problem-Solving: Winning Openings in
Dakon, Board Game Studies 3 CNWS Publications
Finkel, Irving. 2007. Ancient board games in perspective: papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium, with additional contributions, British Museum Press
Fiske, William. 1905. Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature, The Florentine Typographical Society
Kendall, Timothy. 1978. Passing Through the Netherworld: The Meaning and Play of Senet, an
Ancient Egyptian Funerary Game, Kirk Game Company
Liebs, Andrew 1998. Sports and Games of the Renaissance, Greenwood Press
Mohr, Merilyn Simmonds, 1997. The New Games Treasury, Houghton Mifflin Company
Parlett, David, 1999. The Oxford History of Board Games, Oxford University Press
Provenso, Asterie Baker and Provenso Eugene.F. Jr. 1981. Favorite Board Games You can
Make and Play, Dover Publications
Murray, H.J.R. 1952. A History of Board-Games other than Chess, Oxford University Press
Russ, Larry. 2000. The Complete Mancala Games Book, Marlowe and Co.
Verbeeck, Lieve. 1998. Bul: A Patolli Game in Maya Lowland, Board Game Studies 1 CNWS Publications
Clubs and Associations
American Checkers Federation (ACF) http://www.usacheckers.com
British Go Association http://www.britgo.org/
Federation Francaise de Jeu de Dames (FFJD) http://www.ffjd.fr/
Frisian Draughts Association http://www.friesdammen.nl
International Go Federation (IGF) http://www.intergofed.org/
International Mind Sports Association http://www.imsaworld.com/
The Oware Society http://www.oware.org
World Backgammon Association http://www.world-backgammon-association.com/
World Chess Federation (FIDE) http://www.fide.com/
World Draughts Federation (FMJD) http://fmjd.org/
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Board Games of the World
//Hus, 164
Achi, 139
Ad Elta Stelpur, 39
Adu Hull, 117
Adugo, 120
Advisor, 99
Agon, 124
Ahl, 25
Ajedrez, 8Й
Aiea Evangelii, 111
Algebraic notation, 85
Alquerque, 42
Animal Checkers, 32
Animal Chess, 31 ankh, 9
Apit-sodok, 79
Ard-Ri, 111
Asa Ito, 114
. Asp, 89
Assault, 114
Awithlaknannai, 44
Aztec, 24 baara, 21
Backgammon, 34
Baduk, 142
Bagh Chai, 116
bar, 35
Bashne, 72
Bear off, 3 bearing off, 37
Index
Belize, 27
Berg-Damara, 164
Bishop, 83,92,103,108
Bizingo, 54
Brax, 55
Brunei, 79
Bul, 27
BQttgenbach, Konrad, 132
Byzantine Chess, 90
Cannon, 1(X) castling, 83 Chariot, 100
Charkoni, 15
Chasing the Girls, 39
Chaturanga, 81
chauka,21 check, 105 Checkers, 65
Diagonal, 67
Hawaiian, 80 checkmate, 83,105,108 Chess, 81,174
Byzantine, 90
Chinese, 98
Circular, 90
Courier, 91
Farmers, 94
Japanese, 102
Thai, 106
China, 98
Chinese Checkers, 127
Chinese Chess, 98
176
Board Games of the World
Chongkak, 167
Circular Chess, 90
Column, 3
Conspirators, 154 corner-rattler, 41
Courier, 92
Courier Chess, 91
Custodial capture, 3
Dablot Prejjesne, 58
Dakon, 167
Dama, 77
Damone, 75
Dara, 134
Darakari, 134
Dhamet, 45
Diagonal move, 3
Dice, 3
Dice Sticks, 3
Die, 3
Dog, 60
Dou Shou Qi, 31
doubling, 37
Draughts, 65
Frisian, 74 International, 69
Russian, 70
Turkish, 77
Egypt, 9,42
Elephant, 99
en passant, 84
En passant, 3
England, 63 equal forces, 42
Ethiopia, 166
Fandango, 47
Fanorona, 47
Fanoron-Dinty, 48
Fanoron-7elo, 48
Fanoron-7sivy, 48
Farmer s Chess, 94
Farzin, 89
Fidchell, 111
Fighting Serpents, 44
File, 3
Finkel, Irving, 12
fork, 86
Fork, 3
Four Knights opening, 86
Fox and Geese, 112
Frisian Draughts, 74
Gabata, 166
Gabrel, Gary, 151
Gala, 94
Gardner, Martin, 130
General, 99
Go, 142
Gold General, 103
Go-Moku, 148
Greek, 32
Guatemala, 29
Halma, 125
Hasami Shogi, 145
Hawaiian checkers, 80
Hein, Piet, 130
Herero, 164
Hex, 130
Hnefatafl, 11 1
Holland, 74
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Board Games of the World
Hoppity, 125	Ko, 143
homaskella, 41	Kolowisi Awithlaknannai, 44
Horsa, 96	konakis, 109
Horse, 100	Konane, 80
House of Happiness, 10	Kono, 50,135
House of the Re-Atoum, 11	Koma, 95
House of Three Truths, 11	Kurierspiel, 91
House of Waters, 11	Kuma, 42
Huff, 3,66	Lance, 103
Iceland, 39,112	Lapland, 109
India, 14	Lapp, 59
Indonesia, 51	Layli Goobalay, 161
International draughts, 69	Leopards and Cows, 119
Intervention capture, 3	Linnaeus, 109
Ireland, 111	Long dice, 3
Japanese Chess, 102	Long leap, 3,65, 69
Java,51	Ludo, 14,18
Jester, 92	Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, 32
Jeu De Dames, 65	Macuilxochitl, 24
Jeu Force, 65	Madagascar, 47
Jinx, 55	Maharajah and the Sepoys, 87
Jungle, 31	Makruk, 106
Jungle Chess, 31	Makyek, 79
kalaha, 158	Mai, 22
Kampa, 96	Mancala, 156
Kekchi, 29	Maori, 136
Keryo-Pente, 152	Maruba, 163
kewai, 136	Mauritania, 45
Kharbaga, 46	Mefuvha, 163
King, 66, 83,88, 92,103,107	Merelles, 138
King Kamehameha, 80	Merels, 138
King Ralambo, 47	Merrills, 138
Kiowa, 25	Mesopotamia, 12
Knight, 84, 92,103,108	Mill, 138
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Board Games of the World
V ->g Mang, 61
Mogul Putt’han, 49
Monks, George Howard, 125 '.tontezuma, 24
• torabaraba, 140
Mu Torere, 136
Namaqua, 164
Namibia, 164
Nardshir, 37
Nash,John,130
New Zealand, 136
Nigeria, 134
Nine Men’s Morris, 138
Nyout, 21
Officers and Sepoys, 114
Oklahoma, 25
Orthogonal move, 3
Othello, 63
Otjitoto, 164
Pachisi, 14
Pah Turn, 153
Parcheesi, 14
Parchis, 16
Patolli, 24
Pawn, 84, 93,104,108
Pedi, 163
Pente, 151
Persia, 37
Picaria, 139
Pil, 89
Point, 3
Pool Checkers, 68
promote, 46,65,73, 84, 89,93,102,104
Promotion, 3
Pueblo, 44
Pujada, 89
Pulijudam, 117
Puluc, 29 pupamu, 80 put ahi, 136
Queah, 62
Queen, 69,83,92,107
Queen's Guard, 124
Quirkat, 42
Race games, 9
Raichi, 110
Rank, 3
Renju, 148
Replacement capture, 3
Reversi, 63
Ringo, 121
Roman, 32
Rook, 83, 92,103
Round Merrills, 139
Roundabouts, 51
Row, 3
Royal Game of Ur, 12
Rukh, 89
running fight games, 9
Russian draughts, 70
Ruy Lopez opening, 85
Sage, 92
sahe, 26
Salta, 132
Sami, 58
Seega, 60
seki, 144
Senet, 9
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Board Games of the World
Senterej, 88
Shah, 88
Shangaan,140
Shashki, 70
Shatranj, 81,88
Shisima, 140
Shogi, 102
Short leap, 3,65,66
Silver General, 103
Sixteen Soldiers, 48
Soldier, 101
Solitaire, 170
South Africa, 140,163
Spain, 16
Spanish opening, 85
spinner, 14
Srand, 45
Sri Lanka, 20 stalemate, 83
Stern-Halma, 127
Stone Warrior, 44
Sudan, 166
Sultan, 46
Sungka, 167
Surakarta, 51
Tablut, 109
Tabula, 32
Tafl, 109
Tant Fant, 139
Tapatan, 139
Tawlbrwdd, 111
Thaayam, 20
Thai Chess, 106
The game of towers, 72
Thoth, 9
Three Men's Morris, 139
Tibet, 61
Tigers and Goats, 116
Transvaal, 114
Tuichi, 110
Turkish draughts, 77
Twelve Men’s Morris, 140
unequal forces, 42
Ur, 12
Venda, 163
War games, 42
Wari, 159
Wei-qi, 142
Whitehill, Bruce, 125
Wooley, Sir Leonard, 12
Xhosa, 140
Xiangqi, 98
Yoot, 21
Yut, 21
Zamma, 45
Zeno, 32, 33
Zohn Ahl, 25
180
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