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 of mandala patterns 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 common morris patterns, 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
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
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
Astral Checkers – a Man can rotate and shield itself from attack
Reformed International Draughts – a new King capture rule
Checkers Variants (8x8) – with Hoogland King
Ticino Checkers – a Swiss variant
Mozambican Checkers – a unique variant from Mozambique
Complete Checkers Variants – select from menu
Hex-Gothic Checkers – hexagonal checkers
Tobit – Khakassian checkers
Murus Gallicus – a unique strategical game
