Medieval & Renaissance Games Home Page

Welcome to a page specifically dedicated to Really Old Games. This page is intended to cover anything and everything pertaining to games in the Medieval and Renaissance periods. All are welcome to contribute; I am particularly looking for relevant sites to point to.

Bookmarking this page: If you are bookmarking or creating a link to this site, please use the form:

I own that domain, and it should always forward to the correct place, even if the actual location of the site changes.

What's New: New files and changes to this site:

• 12/11/08: The Giant Overhaul begins. Added pointer to the Kubb World Championship. Updated link to Ebro Software. Added links to the Florilegium. Added link to Triofi.
• 8/25/08: Added pointers to Michel Wolffauer's pages on Losing Loadum, Gleek, El Mundo, Go, Tarot, Tafl, and cheat sheets for Laugh and Lie Down and Shogi.
• 5/8/05:Yes, yes -- I owe the site a major overhaul. But as a start, I've updated my bibliography with a number of recent acquisitions.
• 3/27/04:  Updated my description of Astronomical Tables to reflect new information about the dice.
  
• 10/26/03:  Added an appendix to my Primero reconstruction, discussing the differences between it and David Whittaker's.  Updated my cheat sheet with modifications based on his ideas, but haven't updated the main reconstruction itself yet.  Also, added links to all the other primary sources.  Added an alternate transcription of the Trump section from Familiar Dialogues.
• 8/24/03: A long-overdue update of lots of things. Added the Berni article on Primiera. Added the Trictrac Yahoo group. Add a pointer to Imran's copy of the Nare article on Primero. Tweaked the URL for EBro Software. Added Phillipe Lalanne's Trictrac page. Added a couple of images of apparent games played on ice. Added the Bocce links page. Added the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas bocce page, and several bowling-history pages. Added James Masters' Croquet-history page. Added Imran's transcription of The Royal Game of the Ombre, and that of Cotgrave's description of Gleek. Added a number of Game of the Goose links. Added a link to Faire Angel's games page. Added a pointer to the Marostica live chess match. Webbed Antron de Stoc's transcription of Belloc, and his reconstruction of Trump. Webbed James Wickson's new Tarot reconstruction. Added the TarotL page on Tarot history. Added David Whittaker's Primero reconstruction (which is probably better than mine in several respects). Added a link to the good online image of Breughel's Children's Games. Added links to two vendors selling seven-sided dice; I don't like either set completely, but we're getting there. Tweaked the link to Robert fitz John's Alquerques page. Most important of all, added a link to Sonja Musser Golladay's translation in progress of the Alfonso MS.
• 11/11/02: Added a couple more Primiera-related transcriptions from Thierry Depaulis.
• 11/10/02: Added Rowan O'Sidhe's description of Fidchell; Gwynydd of Culloden's descriptions of Morris and Cent; a Latin transcription of Cardano; three transcriptions and the translated game list from Gargantua; several pointers into Imran's pages under Research Materials; the Accademia della Tarocchino Bolognese; the Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française; Hans-Joachim Alscher's tarock page (under both tarot and transcriptions); Thierry Depaulis' transcriptions of a couple of sources relating to Prime; my transcription of Metromachy.
• 10/13/02: Added my new reconstructions of Italian and English Primero.
• 9/22/02: Added pointers to: the British Kubb Federation; Greenwood Press; La Boule Bleue; the Far Isles Guild of Gamers; Hildegarde Stickerin's Tarot page; the CD-ROM reprint of Chatto; Imran Ghory's History of Backgammon and Albanian chessman image; Karen Larsdatter's games in art page; several pointers into the ORB; the Hartshorn-dale games page; a couple of games from the Shire of Isenfir.
• 6/19/02: Added pointer to the Kunshistorisches Museum game board images, to the Transcriptions and Images page. Beefed up the links to the Games Guild of Ealdormere, which has been busy. Added Pastyme Games.
• 6/11/02: Added a new Ace's Boke article, on false dice.
• 5/1/02: Added Justin's reconstruction of Astronomical Tables (aka "Seven-sided Backgammon"), under Tables Games.
• 4/18/02: Updated the links to games on James Masters' Traditional Games Page.
• 4/7/02: Added Roselyne's translation of the Zodiac games from the Alfonso MS.
• 3/28-29/02: Updated the links to the Venshavn Tafl pages. Added the Y Cam description of Gwyddbwyll. Added the Chesmayne Chess page, and the MatchMate origins of chess page. Updated pointer to the Alfonso X site, and added pointer to the Alfonso transcriptions; moved both of those to the transcriptions & images page. Added the RenGeekCentral Rounders pages. Added link to the Sloan article on the origin of Chess. Added the German Merels site, and a couple of tafl pages. Added the IPCS History of Cards. Added the Smithsonian Tafl page. Updated the Tattershall links. Added the Games Guild of Ealdormere. Added the CueCare history of Billiards. Added Leif Bennett's Java games. Added the EarthGaming Tafl pages. Added the KnowOdds Cotton transcription. Added a pointer to Zillions of Games. Added the Slade Tafl page. Added the Taeflor discussion group. Added the Tafl Gild. Added the Blackmask transcription of Bird's Chess History. Added the White Chess Collection. Removed dead pointers to Wulfric's pages.
• 2/23/02: Fixed the link to Gunnora's Tafl page. Added link to EBro Software Tafl implementation. Fixed the links to David Levy's Trictrac page. Added pointer to 1457 act outlawing Golf. Moved a bunch of old updates to the old update page.
• Older Updates.

Descriptions of Period Games, and Research Materials

• Rules for a variety of period games.
• Transcriptions and images of period sources.
• Bibliographies of period game sources.
• The Ace's Boke, a series of articles written in period style about games and gaming.
• The first draft of a brief History of Card Games, by Seaan McAy. (Who wants to stress that this paper is currently far from done.)
• A good overview of what's known about Games of the Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age, assembled by Regia Anglorum.
• A selection of concrete resources (including pretty pictures of real period game boards) can be found at The Museum and Archive of Games. Note particularly their detailed version of Peter Brueghel's important painting Young Folk at Play.
• A page of resources for 16th c. Landsknechts, which has a listing of several appropriate games.
• Ravensgard has an interesting article on Norse Games.
• The IPCS has a nice (if brief) History of Playing-Cards.
• The Games Guild of Ealdormere has a big page of links, a collection of articles on period games, and an online periodical called "Games, Period".
• Karen Larsdatter has a nice page on Games in Medieval and Renaissance Works of Art.
• The ORB is one of the more interesting research sites for period subjects in general; searching on games there produces a number of interesting results. It has a short essay on Sports and Games in general.
• Imran Ghory has a number of useful files relating to the history of games, including a very nice listing of period card games and when they are attested.

Frequently Asked Question

While there is no site that I'm aware of dedicated to period kid's games in specific, the book "Medieval Games" is quite rich in games appropriate for children. A full citation, including ordering instructions, can be found in my bibliography.

(I don't have any direct connection with the author, nor do I get any profit from the book; it's just that this is the most common question at this site, so I call it out specifically.)

Discussion of Period Games

• Information about the Period Games Mailing List, including pointers to its archive.
• Some messages culled from the Rialto (which is the SCA newsgroup), on the subject of period entertainment, with a lot on games.

Recreating Period Games

• An article on Acquiring Period Card Decks.
• Records of the Carolingian Low Company, a group of game players and researchers.

Related Sites

• James Masters has a nice collection of Rules for Traditional Games. Not all of them are period, but many are.
• There is a page on Geocities of Ancient, Foreign, and Esoteric Board Games, mostly made up of links to other sites.
• The Compendium of Common Knowledge has a couple of brief pages on common Elizabethan games and other recreations, including sports.
• The homepage of the International Playing-Card Society, which does all sorts of research into the history of cards and their games.
• There is a very pretty site devoted to Roman Games. However, I have received a detailed critique of this site indicating a number of issues with the reconstructions, which is worth reading before you decide to use the games described therein.
• The Playing Cards Home Page, including rules to a variety of games, a very useful FAQ on playing cards, and other stuff on the topic (some of it period-related).
• Mikael Johansson maintains a page on Brädspel, which is a Nordic game of the Tables/Backgammon variety. Versions of the rules are available in both English and Swedish.
• Ravensgard maintains a page specifically about Norse Games.
• The Barony of Dragonsspine maintains an interesting page of games they have played at SCA events. Not all period, but many are. Similarly, they have a nice article on Children's Games and Contests.
• The Far Isles Guild of Gamers has several articles, including one on Making Game Boards.
• An interesting article on Celtic Knucklebones, more on the making than playing.
• Board Games Studies is an academic journal devoted specifically to research into board games. Not strictly period, but interesting nonetheless. Note that, like many international journals, it publishes in a variety of languages.
• Off the Wall Boardgames is a nice little site with concise rules for many board games (many, though not all, period) and printable boards and pieces for them.
• Rose and Pentagram have put together a nice timeline of game history.
• The Games Guild of Ealdormere is an SCA guild dedicated to games. Their homepage has a lot of related links.
• Arjan Verweij's Dice Site has photos of many different kinds of dice, including a large number of different period and pre-period dice.
• Stefan's Florilegium (a massive collection of snippets from online discussions) has a section on Children's Games, as well as more generally on games, and specifically on SCA games.

Game Software

• Zillions of Games is arguably the best game engine in existence, at least for period games. It can't go everything, but it can do a lot, and it comes with many period games already implemented. (If you hadn't guessed, I *really* like this program.)
• EBro Software has a good-looking freeware implementation of tafl.
• A very pretty Java implementation of Tablut is available on the Web. Note that the rules in this version make capturing the King rather easier than in the variants I'm accustomed to. ("Black wins? Whaddaya mean, black wins?".) They have recently added a Windows implementation as well.
• For those with up-to-date browsers, Gamelan maintains a rather nice collection of board game applets, to play against the computer or an opponent over the Net. Most require Java to use. Not all are period, but the majority are.
• Steve Neeley has an interesting collection of shareware games, several of them period or pre-period. (In particular, an implementation of Halatafl/Fox & Geese.)
• A very large collection of DOS Shareware games can be found at Tommy's Toys, with several period games scattered throughout (including the only computer versions of Piquet, Gleek and Primero I am aware of, and a brand-new implementation of Rythmomachy). Runs on any DOS box (that is, any PC system except for Windows NT).
• Stargraphics has a shareware implementation of Rythmomachy for Windows. (They call it Ambush.)
• Someone named "The Vole" is running online games of Gwyddbwyll.
• NSoftware has shareware versions of Nine Men's Morris and Alquerques. (Not tested yet.)
• There are several implementations of Fanarona:
• John Stracke has a version designed to work under Gnome.
• Dominic Yu has versions that run under Hypercard and Java.
• David Eppstein has a fancier Java applet, which actually plays against you.
• There are also a few implementations of Mancala:
• There is a rather nice Java implementation.
• There is also a Web implementation.
• And a rather pretty JavaScript implementation.
• Leif Bennett has written Java implementations of several period games, including a lot of variations.
• EarthGaming has a shareware implementation of Tafl, which they call Tabula Letum.
• Benjamin Slade has a free implementation of tafl.

Vendors of Period Games and Materials

• Pastyme Games sells a variety of historic games, many of them period.
• The Viking Trader sells nice leather boards for several major period board games (hnefetafl, alquerques, and others).
• Bryanna's Treasure Box sells a variety of hand-painted cloth board games, mostly from the core of SCA period. (Including Rhythmomachia; she is one of the few I know who sells this!)
• Lady Pegleg sells a variety of nice game boards for various period games.
• Gregory Blount maintains a listing of some Purveyors of Period Games, as part of his Juried Merchants Listing.
• Tattershall Arms, which mostly deals in period military tack, also apparently sells my favorite Elizabethan card decks. Not 100% period, but the closest I've found for sale yet. They really enhance a game...
• Francesco Sirene, who mostly appears to deal in spices, also sells a couple of period toys.
• A variety of period games, mostly with Celtic-inspired artwork, are available from Rose & Pentagram Design, including inexpensive period-style cards and several printed-fabric board games.
• Tara Hill, a small Viking-oriented company, is selling several period games, including Tafl, Merelles, Fox & Geese, and a sort of Vikingized version of Senet.
• The Scribes of Caerthe, an SCA scribal guild, is running a fundraiser by selling individual card suits, with novel subjects but done in more-or-less Renaissance style. It's a good cause, and some of the cards are very nice. Check it out. (And as a bonus, each suit comes with a booklet of a period game, from these pages, nicely typeset...)
• Less specialized, but still useful, is 3 Trolls Games, a general gaming mail-order shop. They have their catalog online, including a bunch of the basics (Chess, Go, Cribbage, etc). Look under "Classic Games" in their catalog.
• Kadon Enterprises sells a vast array of games, mostly abstract board games. One or two are period (in particular, they sell a pretty Goose set), but all are very, very cool...
• Masters Games sells several traditional pub games, a few of which are more or less period. (Including a very pretty Shove Ha'penny set.)
• The Dozens of Games site sells seven-sided dice, which don't look terribly period, but probably work well for seven-sided backgammon. MacGregor Games also now sells seven-sided dice; the pentagonal ones match the original description closely, but I find them a bit uneven for actual play.

This page is maintained by Justin du Coeur. I am highly active in the Society for Creative Anachronism (among other things). I expect that most of the people particularly interested in this topic are going to be involved in the SCA or other re-creative/re-enactment organizations, but anyone should feel free to wander around and schmooze. I can be contacted at justin@waks.org.