Reconstruction

Referenced from:

Justin's reconstruction of Seven-Sided Backgammon -- One of my prouder achievements, this reconstruction has caught on pretty widely. (more)
Merels at the Museum of Games -- (more)
The Viking Answer Lady on Tafl Games -- A lovely, detailed article on the Tafl family in general, outlining the major variants. (more)
A brief description of several games, at Tattershall Arms -- (more)
How to Play Cribbage -- Includes several more-recent variations. (more)
Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
A possible Bowling variant -- From the Virtual Museum, based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
Period-style intro to Rhythmomachy -- From the Ace's Boke (more)
David Whittaker's reconstruction of Primero -- This link is via the Wayback Machine. (more)
A Medieval Battle of Numbers -- An overview of Rhythmomachy by Peter Mebben, one of the more serious students of the game. (more)
YouTube video teaching Gluckhaus -- (more)
Parlett on Reversis -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Picket -- (more)
Modar's description -- (more)
A brief description of Primero on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
Irving Finkel's detailed reconstruction of the game -- A more-than-typically detailed writeup of the game, the available source material, and how to interpret it. (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Truc -- (more)
Justin on Tafl -- Largely adapted from Murray and Ragnar. (more)
Tali at the Roman Board Games site -- URL via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Norse Games -- An interesting article from Ravensgard. (more)
Lady Gwir ferch John on Noddy -- (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)
Modar's reconstruction of Tarok -- An Eastern European variant. (more)
Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
Wareham Forge on Hnefetafl -- Includes a bunch of links. (more)
Game Cabinet on Tablero -- Apparently Tablero da Gucci has leaked out into the public as "Toblaro", purportedly from Scotland. The folk process in action... (more)
Description from the British Chess Variants Society -- Mostly a little bit of analysis of the game. (more)
Dagonell on Tag Games -- (more)
Dagonell on Curling -- (more)
Gluckhaus at The Reverend's Musings -- A good quick description of the game, with a little history and illustrations of several boards. (more)
Mats Winther's Description -- URL via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Fidchell in Dreoilin's Weblog -- A discussion of the game of Fidchell, plus a lot of cultural background. (more)
Period-style description of Irish -- From the Ace's Boke. Note that this is a modern writeup in period style! (more)
Modar's reconstruction of Karnoffel -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Parlett on Ombre -- (more)
Parlett on Laugh and Lie Down -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of 2-player Alouette -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Balls! -- A general page on the manufacture of game balls and some of the games played with them in period. (more)
A reconstruction of La Bete by the Low Company -- At this point, I regard this reconstruction as seriously questionable; I'll put together a more plausible one when I have time. (more)
Laugh and Lie Down Cheat Sheet -- A one-page PDF summary, adapted by Michel from Justin's reconstruction (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)
Michael Wolffauer on Poch -- (more)
Justin's description of Early French Tarot -- Largely based on Michael Dummett's The Game of Tarot (more)
Le Jeu de Trictrac -- A substantial page in French, focused on Trictrac. (more)
YouTube video teaching Hnefatafl -- Slightly clumsy presentation style, but useful for folks who learn best from a live presentation. (more)
Backgammon Galore on Trictrac -- (more)
Dagonell on Shove Groat -- (more)
Justin on Dublets -- (more)
The Reasoned Dictionary of Trictrac -- A big site, mostly arranged as an enormous dictionary of terms and concepts of Trictrac. Theoretically in both English and French, but in practice the English support is quite weak. Includes an Initiatory Course in Trictrac. (more)
Jeff Johnston's reconstruction of One-and-Thirty and Bone-Ane -- (more)
Strawberry's reconstruction of Thirty-One -- Reconstruction of Thirty-One, with sources pushing the game all the way back into the 15th century. (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- Includes a dicing variant. (more)
Dagonell on Dwyle Flonking -- (more)
Dagonell's description -- (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Shogi Rules -- A nice clear description of how to play Shogi, with lots of pictures. (more)
Backgammon Galore on Tabula -- (more)
Justin's reconstructions of Primero -- Covering English and Italian separately. (more)
Dagonell on Rithmomachy -- (more)
Sonja Musser Golladay's dissertation on the Alfonso MS (hardcopy) -- This link is a search into University Microfilms' dissertation service. 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)
A period-style description of Piquet -- Not actually period -- a modern writeup of the game, using Elizabethan-style English (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
The Game Cabinet on Tafl Games -- An overview of the family, including some of the more distant cousins, Seega and Latrunculi. (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Flor -- (more)
Dagonell on Hopscotch -- (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
16th century Rhythmomachy -- A reconstruction of the later form of the game described in Fulke. (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- (more)
The Game Cabinet on Senet -- Includes a couple of different reconstructions. (more)
Bowls at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
Ruffe and Trump -- A concise summary of the rules of the game. Seems reasonably accurate, aside from referring to the game as "medieval". (more)
Dagonell on Tablero -- (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
Hazard on the Tattershall Arms page -- (more)
Modar on Bocce -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Nine Men's Morris -- (more)
Sten Helmfrid on Tafl Games -- Nominally focused on Hnefetafl, but really a fine, deeply detailed overview of the entire family. (more)
James Wickson's reconstruction of early Tarot -- (more)
Tablero da Gucci at the Game Cabinet -- This sounds like a pretty authoritative description of the drinking game. (more)
Michel Wolffauer's writeup on Tarot -- PDF, adapted from Justin's version (more)
Michel Wolffauer's handout on Tafl -- PDF, 2 pages (more)
Michael Wolffauer on Wari -- (more)
Dagonell on Hazard -- (more)
A description of Kaiserspiel -- A descendant of Karnoeffel, still played in the modern day (more)
Description from Abstract Games -- Discussion of Alquerques and a bunch of similar games. (more)
Hazard on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Latrunculi -- (more)
The Chess Variant Pages -- The most important site on the subject, covering an enormous spectrum of chess variations, both period and modern. Note particularly the Historic Chess Variants page, which collects all historical versions. Many of the Variant links go into there. (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Cacho -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of All Fours -- (more)
Modar on Wari -- (more)
Mats Winther on Fox and Geese -- Notes several setup variations. (more)
Inn and Inn from the Ace's Boke -- Period-style text (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Trump, transcribed by Antron de Stoc -- A section from Bellot's Familiar Dialogues (1586). Includes a quick reconstruction, as well as a Lochac variant. (more)
Justin on Irish -- (more)
Rules to Goose at Kadon Enterprises -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Gleek -- (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- Goes into more detail about this game than most sites. (more)
Michel's reconstruction of Gleek -- An in-depth PDF about Gleek (more)
Backgammon Galore on Irish -- (more)
Dagonell on Kubb -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Jactus -- (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)
An in-depth paper on Metromachy -- Written in French, including a translation of the Latin primary source into French. (Sadly for us English monoglots.) (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Bone-Ace -- (more)
Michel Wolffauer on Hopscotch -- (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Rentoy -- (more)
The Battle of Numbers -- An overview of Rhythmomachy, focused on the mathematical aspects, published by the American Mathematical Society. (more)
How to Play Whist -- Includes a number of variations from various times. (more)
1on1 Backgammon on Tabula -- (more)
How to Play Ruff and Honours -- Described on their Whist page, as a variant. (more)
A preliminary reconstruction of Maw by Glenn Overby -- Dead page -- this pointer is to the Wayback Machine. (Please support the Wayback Machine -- it is an invaluable service to all researchers.) (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
David Parlett on Noddy -- Nicely detailed description, including some history (more)
An alternate version on Chess Variants -- (more)
Count and Capture Games at the Museum of Games -- This page has a good overview of the family; at the bottom are links to boards and rules from many different countries. (more)
So You Have This Chess Set -- A quick PDF introduction to several period Chess variations. (more)
Rithmomachia on Game Cabinet -- (more)
Bassetta, A Renaissance Italian Card Game -- (more)
Mats Winther's description -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Modar's reconstruction of Basset -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Low Company reconstruction of Ticktack -- Reconstruction by Alessandro the Storyteller, with help from Justin du Coeur (more)
Parlett on Karnoeffel -- (more)
Dagonell on Morris Games -- (more)
Modar on Pall-Mall -- Includes a speculative reconstruction of "Ground Billiards". (more)
Sonja Musser Golladay's Dissertation on the Alfonso MS (PDF) -- A 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)
Dagonell on Gluckshaus -- (more)
The Asia Society on Sugoroku -- Brief, but useful. (more)
YouTube video teaching Ludus Latrunculorum -- (more)
Anton de Stoc's reconstruction of Trump -- This is a transcription of a brief fragment of a language text, and a reconstruction of Trump based on it. (more)
Justin's description of Bryncir -- Based on Brusten's reconstruction (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- (more)
Cats at Cards -- A site focused on teaching the rules for a wide variety of card games. Mostly post-period, but includes good descriptions of several period games. (more)
Magnus' reconstruction and implementation of Metromachy -- Pulling together Justin's transcription and Steffan's translation, Magnus tied it all together, reconstructed the rules, and built an online implementation. (more)
Michel Wolffauer's handout for his Go class -- PDF, three pages (more)
Rhythmomachy Basics -- An introduction to the common concepts of the game (more)
Smithsonian Learning Center on Hnefetafl -- (more)
Parlett on Penneech -- (more)
Parlett on Costly Colors -- Goes into some detail about what little we know about the game (more)
Michel's reconstruction of Losing Loadum -- PDF (more)
Modar on Fierges -- (more)
Period-style description of Tafl -- From the Ace's Boke. This is a modern reconstruction, written in period style. (more)
Dagonell on Goose -- A concise description, plus an outline for a live-action version to play with kids. (more)
Dagonell on Teetotums -- He reasons that the game is probably similar to Dreidels. (more)
Blind Man's Buff at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
Dagonell's discussion of Bowling -- (more)
How to Play Piquet -- Includes a pretty detailed description of play, as well as several more-recent variations. (more)
Mats Winther on Halatafl -- As usual, he states his case strongly and includes a software implementation. Not clear to me whether he's correct, but he does include a previous reconstruction as well. (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (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)
Dagonell on Quoits and Horseshoes -- (more)
Trondheim Hnefatafl Board Fragment -- Some notes about a relatively recently found board, and some thoughts about its possible implications. (more)
Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
Abbas Agraphicus -- The Hnefatafl-focused blog of Alessandro Arzani (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Ruff and Trump -- (more)
Alternate reconstruction of Grande Acedrex -- A very detailed reconstruction that goes back to the Alfonso MS and looks at it carefully. (more)
David Levy's Trictrac Homepage -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Description at the History of Chess -- Not a terribly detailed reconstruction. (more)
Jeff Suzuki's reconstruction of Primero -- (more)
Board Game Studies -- The main journal of board games research, recently (2014) rebooted as an online journal. Currently run by Ludus, a Portugese games organization. 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)

Justin's reconstruction of Laugh and Lie Down -- (more)
Mats Winther on Tablut -- Via the Wayback Machine. Includes a Zillions implementation. (more)
Dwyle Flunking at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
Ringing the Bull at Traditional Games -- (more)
Galleron's reconstructed Pochspiel board -- Posted by Master Galleron de Cressy on DeviantArt. (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)
Michel Wolffauer on Chess of the Four Seasons -- A nice concise writeup on how to play. (more)
Backgammon Galore on Fayles -- (more)
A brief description on the Landsknecht info site -- (more)
Dagonell on Knucklebones -- Includes Gomme's description of "Fivestones". (more)
Dagonell on Gameball -- (more)
Justin's preliminary reconstruction of Ruff and Honours -- (more)
A reconstruction from the Avacal Games Guild -- (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
Medieval European Chess at The History of Chess -- A very good, not-too-long description of core SCA-period chess. (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
Full Tamerlane Chess at The History of Chess -- Yet a further variant of Tamerlane's, with even more pieces. This is the most brain-breakingly baroque version of Chess I have yet encountered. One of these days, I may try making a set, just to try this mess out. (more)
Roman Board Games -- Wally J. Kowalski's reconstructions of various pre-period games. (more)
Modar on Tablut -- (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- Includes a Zillions implementation. (more)
Modar's reconstruction of 4-player Alouette -- Based on work from Brusten de Bearsul (more)
YouTube video teaching Duodecima Scripta -- (more)
Dagonell's description of Boules -- (more)
Parlett on Maw -- (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)
Mats Winther on Gala -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Margaret's reconstruction of Piquet -- (more)
Backgammon Galore on Doublets -- (more)
A period-style description of Gleek -- Justin's writeup of Gleek from the Ace's Boke. This is a modern reconstruction, written in Elizabethan style. (more)
The Loop Within Circular Three Men's Morris -- An analysis of the possible situations within this ancient Morris variant. (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Modar on Fox and Geese -- (more)
A brief description on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
Modar on Game of the Goose -- Illustrated with the Kadon Enterprises board. (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)
Mats Winther's reconstruction -- Specifically discusses the dicing variant. As is Mats' usual interest, spends some time discussing the possibility of using the game for divination. URL via the Wayback Machine (more)
Gambling Games -- Baron Aurddeilen-ap-Robet provides a likely reconstruction based on other games of this period. (more)
Edward of Effingham on Sugoroku -- A page on Effingham's Online Japanese Miscellary, which goes into all sorts of topics about SCA-period Japan. (more)
Parlett on Losing Lodam -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Three Men's Morris -- (more)
Discussion on The History of Chess -- (more)
Merels in the Ace's Boke -- Period-style text, but not actually period. (more)
Michael Wolffauer on Trappola -- (more)
Michel Wolffauer's reconstruction of El Mundo -- PDF, two pages (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Noddy and Early Cribbage -- (more)
Mats Winther's Board Game page -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
David Parlett's reconstruction of Gleek -- (more)
So You Have This Backgammon Board -- A brief PDF introduction to several period Tables variations. (more)
Strawberry's reconstruction of Karnöffel -- A dash of history, and a couple of reconstructions. (more)
Eachna's Celtic Knucklebones Page -- Has some nice practical information about crafting early sorts of dice, and a concise description of the Roman dicing game Tali. (more)
Modar's reconstruction of As Nas -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Hnefatafl World Championship -- Run by the Fetlar organization, and gives a bit of info about the game itself (more)
Period-style Elizabethan Rhythmomachy Rules -- An Ace's Boke rewrite of my reconstruction of 16th century Rhythmomachy (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Pechigonga -- (more)
Still More Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Card Games -- Part of a series by Earl Dafydd ap Gwystl, this includes reconstructions of several games. (more)
A period-style description of Tarot -- Not a primary source; this is a modern reconstruction written in Elizabethan-style language, from the Ace's Boke. (more)
Susan Granquist's page on Tafl -- A relatively brief description. (more)
A news article about reconstructing Kottabos -- Talks a little about the reconstruction process, and has a video of people playing at the game. (more)
Traditional Game Rules -- James Masters' site, some of which is indexed by game here. Some of this is period, but not all. (more)