Wall drawing from a tomb at Benihassan, c.2000 B.C. (After Bell 1979, Dover Publications, Inc.)

Playing board games has a similar effect as contemplation and prayer. For a while, you are relieved of the worries of the outside world. The board pattern is a door into a spiritual vantage point, a relative liberation from materiality. When players lean over a board game it resembles very much a situation of deep contemplation, something which has always been a religious ideal.In Eastern meditation practices they sometimes make use ofpatterns which are meant to sustain inner concentration. Game patterns are, in essence, mandalas. Board games are a threshold between the real world and the world of the gods. Their geometrical and mathematical structure makes them part of the spiritual world, but they exist also in the world of humans. Thus, they transcend both worlds. That’s why board games, especially the commonpatterns, have been carved and painted in many places, also on vertical surfaces where they cannot be played.The great Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung regarded games as of the utmost importance to the sanity and well-being of men and their societies. “Civilisations at their most complete moments,” he said, “always brought out in man his instinct to play and made it more inventive.” He would point out how in ancient Greece games had a religious origin. “One of the most striking testimonies to the quality of the English spirit,” he once said, “is the English love of sport and games in a classical sense and their genius for inventing games” (cf. van der Post, “Jung and the Story of Our Time”, p.45).There is a reverse of the medal. Games, especially in connection with gambling, can become the focus of an obsession that leads to ruinous consequences. The Russian chess master Chigorin, at old age, is said to have burnt his chess set, realizing how much valuable life had been wasted on it. Board games are a long-standing part of human culture. As long as we avoid being obsessed with them, board games are capable of fostering our character and intellectual abilities.





Indian War-games – traditional games from India



Asian Leopard games – traditional hunt games from Asia



Tablut – the game of the Viking sagas (Hnefatafl).



Hare games – traditional European hunt games



Bear games – hunt games from the roman era



Chinese Rebels – an antique game from China



Subjugatio Rebellium – a Chinese game (26 Rebels)



Fox and Geese – a classic! (Räv och Gäss, (Rävspel))



Egyptian Siga – the Mother of all board-games



Asalto – the assault game (Belägring, Rävspel)



Monk and Water – a Tibetan game



Nam Dinh – a Vietnamese game



Zamma – an archaic game from Africa



Frisian draughts – a wild form of checkers (Frisisk dam)



Medieval Alquerque – Alquerque according to modern research (Medeltida Alquerque)



Kharbaga – African checkers (Afrikanskt damspel)



Italian Dama – Italian checkers with privileged kings (italienskt damspel)



Italian Damone – an unconventional checkers variant (italiensk damone)



Dablot prejjesne – a Laplandish (Lappish) boardgame (ett samiskt brädspel)



Dablo Daares – a boardgame from Lapland (ett lappländskt brädspel)



Buga-shadara – a Tuvan folk game



Gala – a medieval battle game



Choko – a Gambian folk game



Liberian Queah – a Liberian folk game



Asian Tiger games – hunt games from Asia



Permainan-Tabal – between Alquerque and Draughts



Ossetian Checkers – a variant from Ossetia



Tibetan Gundru – a traditional game from Tibet



Vertical Order and Chaos



Halma variants – the peaceful game



Halatafl – a strategical Viking game



Damiano – a new Checkers variant



Quint – a new game for the chess/checkers board (Kvint)



Quad – a challenging new alignment game (Fyra-i-rad)



HopQuad – a relative of Halma.



BattleHalma – a spiced up Halma (Slaghalma)



HexQuint – a new game for the hexagonal board



HopperDame – a strategical checkers variant



Bouncers – a different checkers variant.



BounceQuad – simple and sophisticated.



Platonic Halma – very advanced Halma



Pythagoreic Halma – a relative of Platonic Halma



I Ching – not a game, but a divinatory method



Motti – a solitaire game from the 19th century.



Z-Pente – an advanced five-in-a-row game.



Stratagemo – king of battle games



Codebreaker – solve the secret code



Expert Codebreaker – solve the secret code



Neo-Checkers – checkers on an enlarged board



International/Polish Checkers Variants – traditional checkers



Scandinavian checkers – a reconstruction of the rules



Fianco – a checkers relative



Philosophy Shogi Checkers – a 19th century checkers relative



Killer Draughts – International draughts improved



Modern Draughts – Killer Draughts Light



Le Zug – a French relative of Halma



Fetaix – a Moroccan board game



Spanish Checkers Variants – traditional checkers



Gothic Checkers Variants – traditional checkers



Stockholm Checkers – introducing deferred backwards capture



Draughts with Deferred Backwards Capture – revolutionizing the game of draughts



Frisian Draughts 2.0 – revolutionizing Frisian draughts



Swedish Draughts – revived in new form



English Long Checkers – introducing ‘deferred long capture’



Leapfrog Checkers – introducing the leapfrog move



Vanguard Draughts – draughts with a small but significant rule change



Accelerated Draughts – draughts with ‘deferred leapfrog capture’



Black and White – checkers with orthogonal capture



Delta – a popular four-in-line game



Aboyne – a war-game with rules similar to Halma



Quintuplio – achieve five-in-line with double-moves



Breakthru – a modernized version of medieval Tafl



Ploy – a strategy game with convertible pieces



Bataljo – a popular tactical game on the hexagonal board



Bataille astrale – pieces can rotate and shield themselves from attack



Critters – similar to the tabletop game Hive



Seven Sages – a game that emulates football



Irregular Checkers Variants – folk variants with special movement rules



Salta – once very popular



Rocco – a 19th century board game



Castello – an excellent battle game from 1965



Mona – a curious dice game from 1892



Constitutional Draughts – improved Polish draughts



Northern Slovakian Halma – Halma on a chess board



Neogothic Checkers – featuring withdrawal capture







Chess Variants...





