Reconstruction

Referenced from:

Dagonell on Morris Games -- (more)
Period-style intro to Rhythmomachy -- From the Ace's Boke (more)
Parlett on Maw -- (more)
Modar's description -- (more)
David Levy's Trictrac Homepage -- Via the Wayback Machine. (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)
Description on Chess Variants -- (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)
Balls! -- A general page on the manufacture of game balls and some of the games played with them in period. (more)
Modar on Bocce -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Noddy and Early Cribbage -- (more)
Hazard on the Tattershall Arms page -- (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- (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)
Hnefatafl World Championship -- Run by the Fetlar organization, and gives a bit of info about the game itself (more)
A possible Bowling variant -- From the Virtual Museum, based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
A reconstruction from the Avacal Games Guild -- (more)
Merels in the Ace's Boke -- Period-style text, but not actually period. (more)
Michael Wolffauer on Trappola -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Ruff and Trump -- (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Mats Winther on Gala -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Dwyle Flunking at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (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)
Gluckhaus at The Reverend's Musings -- A good quick description of the game, with a little history and illustrations of several boards. (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)
Discussion on The History of Chess -- (more)
Modar on Fierges -- (more)
Justin's reconstructions of Primero -- Covering English and Italian separately. (more)
Michel's reconstruction of Gleek -- An in-depth PDF about Gleek (more)
Backgammon Galore on Doublets -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of Basset -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Backgammon Galore on Tabula -- (more)
Wareham Forge on Hnefetafl -- Includes a bunch of links. (more)
Mats Winther's Description -- URL via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Michel's reconstruction of Losing Loadum -- PDF (more)
Justin on Irish -- (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)
Tablero da Gucci at the Game Cabinet -- This sounds like a pretty authoritative description of the drinking game. (more)
Fidchell in Dreoilin's Weblog -- A discussion of the game of Fidchell, plus a lot of cultural background. (more)
David Parlett on Noddy -- Nicely detailed description, including some history (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)
Ruffe and Trump -- A concise summary of the rules of the game. Seems reasonably accurate, aside from referring to the game as "medieval". (more)
Justin's description of Early French Tarot -- Largely based on Michael Dummett's The Game of Tarot (more)
Abbas Agraphicus -- The Hnefatafl-focused blog of Alessandro Arzani (more)
Parlett on Ombre -- (more)
Parlett on Penneech -- (more)
Dagonell's description -- (more)
Lady Gwir ferch John on Noddy -- (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
The Battle of Numbers -- An overview of Rhythmomachy, focused on the mathematical aspects, published by the American Mathematical Society. (more)
Shogi Rules -- A nice clear description of how to play Shogi, with lots of pictures. (more)
Modar's reconstruction of 4-player Alouette -- Based on work from Brusten de Bearsul (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)
Justin's reconstruction of Laugh and Lie Down -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Jactus -- (more)
Blind Man's Buff at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
Dagonell on Hopscotch -- (more)
Modar on Pall-Mall -- Includes a speculative reconstruction of "Ground Billiards". (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)
David Whittaker's reconstruction of Primero -- This link is via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Parlett on Losing Lodam -- (more)
Low Company reconstruction of Ticktack -- Reconstruction by Alessandro the Storyteller, with help from Justin du Coeur (more)
Bassetta, A Renaissance Italian Card Game -- (more)
Trondheim Hnefatafl Board Fragment -- Some notes about a relatively recently found board, and some thoughts about its possible implications. (more)
Hazard on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
A brief description of Primero on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
How to Play Ruff and Honours -- Described on their Whist page, as a variant. (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of All Fours -- (more)
Alternate reconstruction of Grande Acedrex -- A very detailed reconstruction that goes back to the Alfonso MS and looks at it carefully. (more)
The Viking Answer Lady on Tafl Games -- A lovely, detailed article on the Tafl family in general, outlining the major 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)
A brief description on the Landsknecht page -- (more)
Modar on Wari -- (more)
Norse Games -- An interesting article from Ravensgard. (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Gleek -- (more)
Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
James Wickson's reconstruction of early Tarot -- (more)
Michael Wolffauer on Wari -- (more)
Bowls at the Virtual Museum -- Based on the Brueghel painting. (more)
A Medieval Battle of Numbers -- An overview of Rhythmomachy by Peter Mebben, one of the more serious students of the game. (more)
Rules to Goose at Kadon Enterprises -- (more)
Smithsonian Learning Center on Hnefetafl -- (more)
A period-style description of Piquet -- Not actually period -- a modern writeup of the game, using Elizabethan-style English (more)
Dagonell on Kubb -- (more)
Gambling Games -- Baron Aurddeilen-ap-Robet provides a likely reconstruction based on other games of this period. (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)
YouTube video teaching Nine Men's Morris -- (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- Includes a dicing variant. (more)
So You Have This Backgammon Board -- A brief PDF introduction to several period Tables variations. (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Flor -- (more)
Merels at the Museum of Games -- (more)
Dagonell on Teetotums -- He reasons that the game is probably similar to Dreidels. (more)
Parlett on Laugh and Lie Down -- (more)
Michel Wolffauer's handout on Tafl -- PDF, 2 pages (more)
Dagonell on Rithmomachy -- (more)
Traditional Game Rules -- James Masters' site, some of which is indexed by game here. Some of this is period, but not all. (more)
Jeff Johnston's reconstruction of One-and-Thirty and Bone-Ane -- (more)
A brief description on the Landsknecht info site -- (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- (more)
Dagonell on Shove Groat -- (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)
16th century Rhythmomachy -- A reconstruction of the later form of the game described in Fulke. (more)
Sten Helmfrid on Tafl Games -- Nominally focused on Hnefetafl, but really a fine, deeply detailed overview of the entire family. (more)
Parlett on Reversis -- (more)
Mats Winther on Tablut -- Via the Wayback Machine. Includes a Zillions implementation. (more)
YouTube video teaching Three Men's Morris -- (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Rentoy -- (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)
Dagonell on Tablero -- (more)
Description on The History of Chess -- (more)
How to Play Piquet -- Includes a pretty detailed description of play, as well as several more-recent variations. (more)
Margaret's reconstruction of Piquet -- (more)
The Loop Within Circular Three Men's Morris -- An analysis of the possible situations within this ancient Morris variant. (more)
1on1 Backgammon on Tabula -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Duodecima Scripta -- (more)
The Game Cabinet on Senet -- Includes a couple of different reconstructions. (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
Tali at the Roman Board Games site -- URL via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Le Jeu de Trictrac -- A substantial page in French, focused on Trictrac. (more)
Modar on Game of the Goose -- Illustrated with the Kadon Enterprises board. (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)
So You Have This Chess Set -- A quick PDF introduction to several period Chess variations. (more)
Period-style Elizabethan Rhythmomachy Rules -- An Ace's Boke rewrite of my reconstruction of 16th century Rhythmomachy (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Bone-Ace -- (more)
How to Play Cribbage -- Includes several more-recent variations. (more)
YouTube video teaching Latrunculi -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Seven-Sided Backgammon -- One of my prouder achievements, this reconstruction has caught on pretty widely. (more)
Backgammon Galore on Irish -- (more)
Modar on Fox and Geese -- (more)
The Game Cabinet on Tafl Games -- An overview of the family, including some of the more distant cousins, Seega and Latrunculi. (more)
A description of Kaiserspiel -- A descendant of Karnoeffel, still played in the modern day (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Cacho -- (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Pechigonga -- (more)
Backgammon Galore on Trictrac -- (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)
Parlett on Karnoeffel -- (more)
YouTube video teaching Hnefatafl -- Slightly clumsy presentation style, but useful for folks who learn best from a live presentation. (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)
Mats Winther on Fox and Geese -- Notes several setup variations. (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)
An alternate version on Chess Variants -- (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)
Period-style description of Irish -- From the Ace's Boke. Note that this is a modern writeup in period style! (more)
Michel Wolffauer on Hopscotch -- (more)
A reconstruction of Beast, or Le Beste by Symon of Barnesdale -- Note that La Bete and Le Beste seem to be two different games. (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)
Michel Wolffauer's reconstruction of El Mundo -- PDF, two pages (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)
How to Play Whist -- Includes a number of variations from various times. (more)
Description at Chess Variants -- Includes a Zillions implementation. (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)
The Asia Society on Sugoroku -- Brief, but useful. (more)
Description from the British Chess Variants Society -- Mostly a little bit of analysis of the game. (more)
Inn and Inn from the Ace's Boke -- Period-style text (more)
Rithmomachia on Game Cabinet -- (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)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (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)
Dagonell on Hazard -- (more)
Dagonell on Dwyle Flonking -- (more)
Michael Wolffauer on Poch -- (more)
Dagonell on Gluckshaus -- (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)
Description on The History of Chess -- (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)
Justin on Dublets -- (more)
Description at the History of Chess -- Not a terribly detailed reconstruction. (more)
Michel Wolffauer on Chess of the Four Seasons -- A nice concise writeup on how to play. (more)
Rhythmomachy Basics -- An introduction to the common concepts of the game (more)
Dagonell on Quoits and Horseshoes -- (more)
Michel Wolffauer's writeup on Tarot -- PDF, adapted from Justin's version (more)
David Parlett's reconstruction of Gleek -- (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)
YouTube video teaching Ludus Latrunculorum -- (more)
Justin's reconstruction of Picket -- (more)
Justin's description of Bryncir -- Based on Brusten's reconstruction (more)
Ruben's reconstruction of Truc -- (more)
Dagonell on Knucklebones -- Includes Gomme's description of "Fivestones". (more)
YouTube video teaching Gluckhaus -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of As Nas -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Description on Chess Variants -- (more)
Description from Abstract Games -- Discussion of Alquerques and a bunch of similar games. (more)
Roman Board Games -- Wally J. Kowalski's reconstructions of various pre-period games. (more)
Dagonell on Gameball -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of Tarok -- An Eastern European variant. (more)
Laugh and Lie Down Cheat Sheet -- A one-page PDF summary, adapted by Michel from Justin's reconstruction (more)
Galleron's reconstructed Pochspiel board -- Posted by Master Galleron de Cressy on DeviantArt. (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)
Dagonell on Tag Games -- (more)
Dagonell's discussion of Bowling -- (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- Goes into more detail about this game than most sites. (more)
Mats Winther's Board Game page -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Medieval European Chess at The History of Chess -- A very good, not-too-long description of core SCA-period chess. (more)
Strawberry's reconstruction of Karnöffel -- A dash of history, and a couple of reconstructions. (more)
Michel Wolffauer's handout for his Go class -- PDF, three pages (more)
Dagonell's description of Boules -- (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)
Backgammon Galore on Fayles -- (more)
Modar on Tablut -- (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 on Tafl -- Largely adapted from Murray and Ragnar. (more)
Dagonell on Curling -- (more)
Mats Winther's description -- Via the Wayback Machine. (more)
Period-style description of Tafl -- From the Ace's Boke. This is a modern reconstruction, written in period style. (more)
Jeff Suzuki's reconstruction of Primero -- (more)
Modar's reconstruction of 2-player Alouette -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Dagonell on Goose -- A concise description, plus an outline for a live-action version to play with kids. (more)
Modar's reconstruction of Karnoffel -- Based on work by Brusten de Bearsul (more)
Susan Granquist's page on Tafl -- A relatively brief description. (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)
Description at Chess Variants -- (more)
Parlett on Costly Colors -- Goes into some detail about what little we know about the game (more)
Description at The History of Chess -- (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)
A news article about reconstructing Kottabos -- Talks a little about the reconstruction process, and has a video of people playing at the game. (more)
Ringing the Bull at Traditional Games -- (more)
A brief description of several games, at Tattershall Arms -- (more)
Justin's preliminary reconstruction of Ruff and Honours -- (more)