History

• A 14th c. MS with info about Merels and Tables -- (more)
• A bit on the history of Courier Chess from The Chess Collector (pdf) -- (more)
• A brief history of playing cards -- By Thierry Depaulis. (In French) (more)
• A brief history of the Tarot -- (more)
• A court case, described on ORB (The On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies) -- Court case discussion about men who cheated at Quek with a chequer board that had depressed squares. (more)
• A Family Tree of Card Games -- A lovely infographic, showing many different games and roughly how they are connected. (more)
• A History of Chess, by HJR Murray -- The definitive work on Chess history and variants. A century old, but still the gold standard. (more)
• A History of Cribbage -- By James Masters, on the Traditional Games page (more)
• A Medieval Battle of Numbers -- An overview of Rhythmomachy by Peter Mebben, one of the more serious students of the game. (more)
• A page on Austrian Tarock -- Collected by Hans-Joachim Alscher. in German, but mostly links, including lots of links to various period sources. Well worth going through for those links. (more)
• A Pictish Origin for Hnefetafl? (pdf) -- Speculations about the possible origins of the game. (more)
• Abbas Agraphicus -- The Hnefatafl-focused blog of Alessandro Arzani (more)
• Accademia del Tarocchino Bolognese -- In Italian -- has a number of interesting-looking articles on the game, some of them relating to its history. (more)
• Alternate reconstruction of Grande Acedrex -- A very detailed reconstruction that goes back to the Alfonso MS and looks at it carefully. (more)
• Archive of an email discussion about Tablero -- This is where the hoax originally came to light. (more)
• Asia Society on Pachisi -- (more)
• Billiards on Traditional Games -- A quick but good overview of the evolution of this family of games. (more)
• Biography of a Board Game: Game of the Goose podcast -- A very good, short (~9 minute) capsule history of the game, in podcast form. (more)
• Board Game Studies -- This is a yearly academic journal of board games. Issues are freely available from 2016. Not exclusively historical or SCA-period, but has enough relevant material to be worth keeping an eye on.The predecessor paper journal ran for half a dozen issues over a number of years, but isn't easy to get a hold of. (more)
• Carolus Chess page -- An interesting overview of the history of chess. A few sections need a grain of salt, but worth looking over. Site link uses Wayback Machine. Some image links may be broken. (more)
• Chess History and Reminiscences -- A 19th century book on Chess, by HE Bird, transcribed by Project Gutenberg. (more)
• Chronology of Backgammon and Tables in England -- Via the Wayback Machine. A summary of some major references to Tables in English literature. (more)
• Courier Chess Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
• Cricket on Traditional Games -- (more)
• Dagonell on Curling -- Brief description on the origin of curling (more)
• Dagonell on Football -- (more)
• Dagonell's description on Alquerques -- (more)
• Damian Walker's Hnefetafl Site -- A large and deep site on All Things Hnefetafl, and really, on the Tafl family in general. Especially strong sections on Archaeological Finds, Literary Sources, and stuff like that. (more)
• David Parlett on Noddy -- Nicely detailed description, including some history (more)
• de vetula, the 13th century d&d poem -- Blog page about rolling dice and the probability of outcomes in De Vetula (more)
• Deciphering the World's Oldest Rule Book -- A YouTube video (about 7 minutes) by the curator at the British Museum who managed to put the board and the cuneiform rules together. (more)
• Description at The History of Chess -- In English with transcription in Old Spanish (more)
• Description from Abstract Games -- Discussion of Alquerques and a bunch of similar games. (more)
• Description of Tamerlane Chess at The History of Chess site -- Goes into more detail about this game than most sites. (more)
• Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
• Discussion at The History of Chess -- By far the most detailed discussion of this game that I know of. Mainly focuses on debunking the myths about the antiquity of this variant, arguing strongly that, while it is SCA-period, it isn't as ancient as folks usually claim. (more)
• Discussion on The History of Chess -- (more)
• Discussion on the History of Chess page -- Makes the point that we are working from very thin information here. (more)
• Fidchell in Dreoilin's Weblog -- A discussion of the game of Fidchell, plus a lot of cultural background. (more)
• Fithcheall and Gwyddbwyll: Hnefatafl or Not? -- An interesting little article, summarizing the open question of whether these games were actually in the Tafl family (as is often assumed). (more)
• Fox and Geese - How to Play and History of the Game -- (YouTube video, 15 minutes) (more)
• From Ur to Aseb: The Evolution of the Game of Twenty Squares (Google Doc) -- A look into the Royal Game of Ur and the Egyptian game Aseb, and the historical relationships between them. (more)
• Games Galore -- Brief overview contains a very useful summary chart of which games were introduced where and when. (more)
• Gluckhaus at The Reverend's Musings -- A good quick description of the game, with a little history and illustrations of several boards. (more)
• Gwyddbwyll reconstruction from Y Camamseriad -- A nicely detailed article on the Gwyddbwyll and Towlbrwdd, which may or may not be the same game. (more)
• Hazard - History of the Game and How to Play -- (YouTube video, 17 minutes) (more)
• Hickock Sports on Curling -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
• Hickock Sports on the History of Croquet -- Via the Wayback Machine. Touches on Pall-Mall along the way. (more)
• History of Backgammon on Traditional Games -- Brief outline of the history of Tables games. (more)
• History of Battledore and Shuttlecock -- A brief discussion on Traditional Games. (more)
• History of Bocce at bocce.org -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
• History of Boules and Petanque -- From "la boule bleue", a French company making high-end boules sets. (more)
• History of Bowls at Traditional Games -- Much of this is post-period, but it's useful to understand how the family is related. (more)
• History of Games Timeline -- A partial but useful timeline of a number of games, from Rose and Pentagram. (more)
• History of Quoits at Traditional Games -- Goes into some detail about the regional variations in Britain. (more)
• Hnefatafl World Championship -- Run by the Fetlar organization, and gives a bit of info about the game itself (more)
• Imran Ghory's Listing of Tables in English Literature -- Via the Wayback Machine. A useful chronology of pre-20th century references to Tables Games, likely useful for research. (more)
• Imran Ghory's notes on the History of Backgammon -- Via the Wayback Machine (more)
• Irving Finkel's detailed reconstruction of the game of Ur (pdf) -- A more-than-typically detailed writeup of the game, the available source material, and how to interpret it. (more)
• Islamic Backgammon -- Uses period illustrations to show that something like Irish was played in the Eastern Islamic territories in period. (more)
• James Masters' History of Chess -- A quick overview of where the various subfamilies fit in. (more)
• James Masters' page about the Alquerques Family -- This talks briefly about Alquerques, as well as related games such as Fanarona and Draughts. (more)
• Jean-Louis Cazaux' History of Chess -- An excellent in-depth site, giving lots of information on the topic. Discusses the history, the archaeology, lots of papers about chess, many variations (including a lot of Eastern variants), etc. (more)
• Jean-Louis Cazaux' speculations about Ashtapada -- This page has an in-depth discussion about why the author disagrees with HJR Murray's reconstruction, and provides his own best guess about how the game way played. (more)
• Liar's Dice in Folklore in History -- A good article tracing what we do and don't know about Liar's Dice, and evaluating what is actually plausible in the historical claims. (more)
• Mancala on Traditional Games -- An overview, describing the variety of the games. (more)
• Medieval European Chess at The History of Chess -- A very good, not-too-long description of core SCA-period chess. (more)
• Merels at the Museum of Games -- (more)
• Met Lecture 1 on the History of Chess -- A YouTube video lecture on Chess (more)
• Modar on Pall-Mall -- Includes a speculative reconstruction of "Ground Billiards". (more)
• New Thoughts on Dominoes -- A brief page citing some evidence that dominoes may have been known in England as early as the time of Henry VIII. (But see notes below.) (more)
• New York Magazine, 20 Dec 71 -- In "Best Bits" on page 89, has a small segment specifically calling out Tablero as a modern invention. (more)
• New York Magazine, 9 Oct 72 -- Has a small ad for Tablero de Jesus for sale, on page 89. (more)
• Nine and Three Men's Morris on Traditional Games -- Has some nice pictures. (more)
• On the Explanation of Chess and Backgammon -- A medieval Persian source, describing how Chess came to Persia and how "backgammon" (games within the Tables) was invented. Downloadable free pdf. (more)
• On the Origin and Diffusion of European Ball Games, a Linguistic Analysis (pdf) -- An academic paper on where the games came from (more)
• Organizing the Greed for Gain: Alfonso X of Spain’s Law on Gambling Houses (pdf) -- An academic article about a little-known law code. No translation, but includes a number of quotes in the original form, and a fair amount of analysis about what we can infer from it. (more)
• Pachisi on Traditional Games -- (more)
• Pall Mall at Traditional Games -- A good look at the known history of the game, during and after period. (more)
• Parlett on Costly Colors -- Goes into some detail about what little we know about the game (more)
• Parlett on Karnoeffel -- (more)
• Parlett on Loo -- He has several reconstructions, and is looking at a broader sweep of history; I haven't yet checked his writeup against Cotton specifically yet. (more)
• Parlett on Losing Lodam -- (more)
• Parlett on Maw -- (more)
• Parlett on Ombre -- (more)
• Parlett on Piquet -- Goes into quite a bit of history, since this period game has more or less survived down the centuries; does not actually give the detailed rules. (more)
• Parlett on Reversis -- (more)
• Parlett on the Leaf Game -- A discussion of what we know about the ancient Chinese game that purportedly led to the invention of cards (more)
• Pre-Gebelin Tarot History -- A blog focusing on "The Moral Allegory of Tarot". It is a refreshing middle ground: explicitly skeptical about the occult side (much of which was an 18th century invention) but looking seriously at Tarot imagery as allegory. Highly opinionated and intriguing, and contains many images of less-known period decks. (more)
• Ragnar Thorbergsson's Analysis of Tafl -- One of the more important articles on the subject, this doesn't just use the sources, it also does some analysis of the playability of different reconstructions, in order to find the most plausible reconstruction. (more)
• Ringing the Bull at Traditional Games -- Legend says it came back with the Crusaders. (more)
• Rithmomachia, the Great Medieval Number Game -- Article published April 1911 in The American Mathematical Monthly. (8 pages) (more)
• Rounders at Traditional Games -- (more)
• Shove Ha'penny at Traditional Games -- Has some nice pictures of boards, and an extensive Glossary. (more)
• Shovelboard on Traditional Games -- (more)
• Skittles on Traditional Games -- Gives a good deal of history, and information about regional variations in Britain. (more)
• Sonja Musser Golladay's dissertation on the Alfonso MS -- This link is hosted by Scribd. Golladay's dissertation is the masterwork on the Alfonso MS, including a full translation, copious notes and reconstruction details, and all sorts of information about the art and culture surrounding the book. It is a must-have for anyone researching this text. (more)
• Sonja Musser Golladay's Dissertation on the Alfonso MS (PDF) -- A giant PDF copy of the full, 1400-page tome about the Alfonso. This is the single most important source when working on this MS, including a full translation, lots of notes and reconstruction details, information about the culture and context, and so on. (more)
• Sten Helmfrid on Tafl Games -- Nominally focused on Hnefetafl, but really a fine, deeply detailed overview of the entire family. (more)
• Stoolball at Traditional Games -- (more)
• Strawberry's reconstruction of Karnöffel -- A dash of history, and a couple of reconstructions. (more)
• Susan Granquist's page on Tafl -- A relatively brief description. (more)
• Taxonomic map of Playing Cards -- A lovely map showing the evolution of the suits, by Lady Heather Hall. (more)
• Tennis at Traditional Games -- (more)
• The Asia Society on Backgammon in Persia and China -- (more)
• The Asia Society on Sugoroku -- Brief, but useful. (more)
• The Beginnings of Chess (pdf) -- An in-depth academic paper analyzing the sources, with an eye towards figuring out where Chess came from. (more)
• The Enigma of the Birth of Chess -- A multi-page analysis of what we know about the early history of Chess (more)
• The Full History of Board Games -- A long blog post on Medium that skims over the surface of the topic. Slightly breathless and necessarily very light on detail, but mostly accurate and hits at least many of the high points. Well-suited counter to any misimpressions that board games are a modern phenomenon, and gives a good sense of the scope. (more)
• The Game Cabinet on Tafl Games -- An overview of the family, including some of the more distant cousins, Seega and Latrunculi. (more)
• The Game of Seven: Glückshaus and Related Dice Games -- Free PDF of an article about the game of Sevens or Gluckshaus. (more)
• The Games of Chess and Backgammon in Sasanian Persia (pdf) -- A longish and very scholarly essay, adducing lots of evidence for early forms of the games in Persia, and discussing what we know about them in Persian society. (more)
• The History of Bocce -- A concise one-pager outlining some of the history we know about. (more)
• The History of Playing Cards -- An overview history hosted at the IPCS (International Playing Card Society). (more)
• The Lewis Hoard of Gaming Pieces: A Re-examination of their Context, Meanings, Discovery and Manufacture -- Article no longer available (more)
• The Old Texts -- A deeply detailed chronology of the known Chess sources. Note that this runs five pages -- don't miss the navigation bar at the end! Nicely color-codes the sources (Indian, Chinese and European) so you can keep track of these highly parallel histories. (more)
• The Origins of Backgammon - no longer available -- A very neat page, citing several solidly medieval sources. (more)
• The Recreational Arithmatic of Rithmomachia -- Free online pdf covering the basics of Rithmomachia using the 1556 rules by Claude de Boissiere. Very in-depth. (more)
• The TarotL History Information Sheet -- Compiled by members of the TarotL group, this is a concise look at various myths about the deck, and the current historical understanding. (more)
• The Viking Answer Lady on Tafl Games -- A lovely, detailed article on the Tafl family in general, outlining the major variants. (more)
• The Wikipedia page on Harpastum -- (more)
• Traditional Game Rules -- James Masters' site, some of which is indexed by game here. Some of this is period, but not all. (more)
• Trionfi -- A substantial website dedicated entirely to the history of Tarot. Well worth digging into if you are interested in the early history of the decks. (more)
• Wareham Forge on Hnefetafl -- Includes a bunch of links. (more)
• Wikipedia on Curling -- (more)