El-Quirkat or Alquerque

Name of Game: El-Quirkat (Arabia), Alquerque (Spain)
Origin of Game: Arabia, before 1400 B.C.
Players: 2
Pieces: One player has twelve dark color pieces. The other player has twelve light color pieces. (Note: Any two different colors may be used.)
Board Design: A five by five square, for a total of twenty-five positions.
Objective: To capture as many of the other player's pieces as possible.
How to Play:
The game board is always set up in the illustrated starting position. The center square is the only empty square at the beginning of the game.
Either player may go first. On future games the players should take turns going first.
Each player then takes a turn moving one of his or her pieces. A piece may be moved one space horizontally, or vertically, or diagonally, including forwards and backwards. A player cannot jump over one of his or her own pieces.
The objective is to jump over and capture your opponent's pieces, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You can jump more than one piece on your move as long as you jump your opponent's pieces one at a time and there is an open space to land on at the end of each of your jumps. On multiple jumps, the next jump does not have to be in a straight line with the first jump. The jumped pieces are captured and they are removed from the game board.
Winning: When both players have taken seven moves each, and no jumping or capturing has taken place, then the game is over. The player who has captured the most pieces wins.

Ovid's Game

Name of Game: Ovid's Game.
Origin of Game: Before 8 AD (Jesus was a boy).
Players: 2
Pieces: One player has three dark color pieces. The other player has three light color pieces. (Note: Any two different colors may be used.)Board Design: A three by three square, for a total of nine circles.
Objective: The first player to line up three pieces in a straight line in any direction wins (horizontal or vertical along the lines connecting any three circles).

How to Play:
Either player may go first. On future games the players should take turns going first.
The players take turns placing one of their three original pieces on any open circle on the board. If a player forms a straight line of three pieces then the player wins. Otherwise, after both players have placed all three of their pieces on the board, the players take turns moving one of their own pieces into one of the open circles on the board. A piece may only be moved one space at a time, either horizontally or vertically. A piece may not jump another piece. Movement must be along one of the straight lines connecting the circles.

Winning: The first player to line up three of his or her own pieces along any straight line connecting three circles wins.

Version One: No diagonal moves are allowed.

Version Two: Diagonal moves are only allowed through the center circle. Winning may occur in a straight line through the center circle.

Version Three: Diagonal moves are allowed through the center circle and across the straight lines connecting the circles on the outside of the square. Winning the game must still be done in a single straight line that connects three circles and not through a bent line that connects three circles.

Horseshoe

Name of Game: Horseshoe
Origin of Game: China (An ancient Chinese strategy game.)
Players: 2
Pieces: One player has three dark color pieces. The other player has three light color pieces. (Note: Any two different colors may be used.)
Board Design: A three by three horseshoe, for a total of eight positions.
Objective: To block the other player's pieces so he or she cannot make a move.

How to Play:
Either player may go first. On future games the players should take turns going first.
The players take turns placing one of their three original pieces on any open position on the board. After both players have placed all three of their pieces on the board, the players take turns moving one of his or her own pieces into any open position on the board. A piece may only be moved one space at a time, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. A piece may not jump another piece. A piece cannot be moved into the open square at the bottom of the horseshoe game board.

Winning: The first player to block the other player so he or she cannot move is the winner.

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Mayan Board Game "Bul"

Information on this game is difficult to find, so I am posting information from Wikipedia, which is about as concise as I can find anywhere. ~ Master Simon  ~

Bul, also called Buul, Boolik or Puluc, is a running-fight game originating in Mesoamerica, and is known particularly among several of the Maya peoples of the Guatemalan highlands.

This board is from Neeleys Shareware Game for Bul

Descriptions of the game

• Stewart Culin described the game in the 24th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: Games of North American Indians published in 1907. ^[1]
• R. C. Bell referred to the game in his reference work Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations.^[2]

Both of these descriptions were based on the eyewitness accounts of others.

• Lieve Verbeeck, a linguist studying Mayan language, witnessed the modern version of the game being played by Mopan and Kekchi Maya in Belize:

But neither can I give you hard evidence that the corn game, as it is now still played by the Mopan and K'ekchi' Mayans, (who are neighbours), was known in the ancient times. There is linguistic evidence that the ancient Mayans used to play games of chance. The name of BUL occurs in several Mayan languages and always means to play with dice. Sometimes, by extension, it means "to lose with gambling". There is archaeological evidence that the Mayans knew the square- and oval-shaped patolli boards. There are many sites throughout the Maya area where archaeologists found patterns of patolli boards carved in floors or benches. Unfortunately there are no BUL boards found (yet??) ... Anyway I don't have any thrilling stories for you about famous BUL contests in the ancient times. Only three Maya manuscripts were safeguarded from the Spanish conquerors. Up till now no reference to Maya board games was found. Of course there are a few pictures displaying priests throwing corn or seeds for divination ... Culin's version of BUL is quite accurate. I observed the game being played by 10 men. They placed 25 grains of corns in a row. The game lasted for 3 hours, because they played 5 variants. ^[3]History of the game

It is impossible to know when exactly the game was developed or what the original rules were as very few records survived the invasion by the conquistadors (between the 15th and 17th centuries). Stewart Culin organised the games in his anthology into those he thought had an influence from Europe in their creation. Bul is not listed among these, so in his opinion the game must have developed before Europeans traveled to Central America. Following this reasoning, the game would therefore probably be Maya in origin.

Rules for two players

There are a variety of ways to play the game, as Verbeeck's account shows. The game could be played by two people, or by two equal-sized teams. The overall objective is to capture and subsequently kill the playing pieces of the opposition, so the game is in essence a war game.
The playing area is divided up into equal spaces using rods, placed parallel to each other. The two players have control of a base at either end of the play area.
The players take an even number of stones or figurines (or any suitable playing piece) and place them in their respective bases.
The movement of the stones is determined by the roll of four dice or 'bul' (corn kernels). These are painted black on one half so that they land showing either a yellow or black face. The number of faces showing determines how many spaces a stone can move:

• 1 yellow - 1 space
• 2 yellow - 2 spaces
• 3 yellow - 3 spaces
• 4 yellow - 4 spaces
• 0 yellow (all black) - 5 spaces

Taking it in turns, players roll the bul and move any of their stones the corresponding number of spaces toward the enemy base. A stone cannot move to a space where there is already a friendly stone. If there is no other option but to do this, a player must pass.
When a stone lands on the same space as an enemy stone, the enemy stone is captured and is no longer controlled by the enemy player. The enemy stone is placed beneath the capturing stone to reflect its captured state. Every time the capuring stone moves, its prisoners are moved with it. If a stone lands on an enemy stone which already has prisoners, it captures that stone and its prisoners, and these are placed beneath it.
When a stone captures an enemy stone, it immediately reverses direction and begins heading back to the home base.
Once a stone and its prisoners reach home, any enemy stones are removed from the game, or killed. Friendly stones are liberated or returned back to the set of stones which can be played.
Once a player has killed every enemy stone, they win.

Rules for teams

Only two teams can play, and these must be of equal size. Five or six players per team is a common team size. The game is played with one stone for each team member. Players on a team rotate who rolls the bul and moves a stone.

Variants

The number of stones used by each player can be changed for a shorter or longer game as necessary. Players can also agree before the game that only a certain number of stones can leave the base and be in play at any one time (an example being that players can only have two stones in play outside of the base).
The game length can be changed by having less spaces between the two bases. Verbeeck mentioned twenty-five dividing rods being used, but a much shorter game would be played using only nine or ten rods.

References

1. ^ Culin, Stewart (1907). 24th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: Games of North American Indians. Washington DC: US gov Printing Office. 846 pp. (rev. ed. 1975 ) Dover Publications. 867 pp. ISBN 0-486-23125-9. (1994) University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6357-0
2. ^ Bell, R. C.: Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, 1979, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-23855-5
3. ^ Verbeeck, Lieve: Bul: a Patolli game in Maya lowland, p. 83-100. In: Board game studies: International Journal for the Study of Board Games, Leiden: Research School CNWS, 1998

Sz'kwa: Ancient Chinese Board Game

This is an ancient Chinese game played on a cross and circle board. Boards exist from the 11th century, but it is unknown if those boards were used fo rsz'kwa or another game.

This Chinese game is a simple version of Wei ch'i or Go.

A game for two players

 

Resources:
20 distinctive pieces such as coloured counters, coins, pebbless or shells for each player.
A board drawn like the one above - you may like to try marking this out in wet sand.

To start:
Use an empty board and take it in turns to place one of your pieces on one of the intersections on the board - these include where the red and blue lines meet the outer black circle.

Aim of the game: to capture your opponent's pieces by surrounding them.

The game ends: when there are no empty intersections where a piece can be placed or when a player has no pieces left to place.

The winner: is the player who has captured the most counters.

Rota: A roman Three In a Row game.

Rota: A Classic Game of Ancient Rome

The ancient Roman game of Rota is easy to learn, quick to play. It makes a great kid's game that teaches planning ahead and the points of the compass.

We don't actually know the Roman name for it, but scholars call it Rota, Latin for "wheel." Rota boards were painted, scratched or scribbled everywhere that Romans went. It probably kept a lot of bored Roman soldiers busy.

Scholars guess that Rota is a three-in-a-row game like tic-tac-toe. They have reconstruted the rules based on medieval games that look a lot like it. Just like tic-tac-toe? Not so fast! Rota can never end in a tie.

How to Play Rota

Set-Up For a Game of Rota (2 players)

1. First, draw a circle. Draw a plus sign in it (+) and then an X.
2. Draw dots at the end of each line and in the middle where they coss.
3. Now you'll need pieces. You can use coins (different coins for each player), buttons, pebbles, or anything you like.
4. Each player gets THREE pieces.

The Rules for the Game of Rota

1. Each turn, players can put one piece on the board in any open spot.
2. After all three pieces are on the board, a player must move one piece each turn.
3. A piece may move along any line or curving edge of the circle to the next empty spot.
4. A piece may not jump other pieces nor move more than one spot.
5. The first person to get three in a row wins.*

*(I say, around the edge of the circle should count; others restrict the three-in-a-row to a diameter -- a straight line. Decide before you start playing, since we don't have an ancient Roman around to ask!)

TIP TO PARENTS: You may want to label your Rota gameboard with the points of the compass, or have kids say words like "North" or "Southwest!" when placing a piece. (This isn't a Roman way of playing it, mind you; it's my own "spin" on the game.)

This is the first of my posts concerning gaming. This particular one is a paper written about the origins of suits on playing cards, actual game background and rules to follow soon

 

The Cultural-Historical View of the

Origin and Evolution of Playing-Cards

and their Suit-Signs and Illustrations

DR HELLMUT ROSENFELD

 

A paper given at the 1981 Convention of the Society

ONE of the greatest, and for the development of human culture, most

important achievements of the human spirit was the invention of the

ancient Indian numbers, the decimal system and the various arithmetical

systems stemming from them. They have made possible the evolvement of

arithmetical knowledge in the West through Arab intermediaries. On the one

hand, the ancient Indian conception of numbers (one great-year consists of

two billion and 160,000 calendar years!) exceeds our comprehension up to

the present day. But on the other hand, this thinking in numbers was capable

of compressing the understanding of the world into low numbering systems.

Thus, the ancient Indian dice-chess compresses the diversity of political

constellations into the figures of two main adversaries and two allies and

the diversities of hostile controversies into the prescribed individual moves

(again expressed in numbers) of the representative figures of the armed

forces; finally, it reproduces the intervention of chance and fate by determining

the figure to be moved by the throw of dice, and sees the universe

as a playing field (chess board) orientated on the four cardinal points, with

twice-four by twice-four squares.

The game of chess as a two-sided game, with one-directional thinking,

came to Europe via Persia and became the royal game of medieval feudal

society.

A more mobile society of horsemen (in Asia) developed from the same

four-sided dice-chess the game of playing-cards with four suits, liberated from

space (chess board). The uniform army is increased according to the Indian

decimal system to 10 cards; these warrior cards, released from their spatial

values, receive, in the most ingenious way, time values through the arithmetical

ranking from one to ten. By means of two figure or court cards

(king and minister) the ancient Indian decimal system gets aligned with the

Babylonian duodecimal system. It was the barbarian soldier caste of the

Mamluks that added a third figure (the vice-governor) to emphasise its own

importance. They thus created the impossible number of 13 cards for each
suit. They also made in their enthusiasm for the team game of polo, a polo
king out of the king-judge who held a stick for punitive bastonadoes.
Playing-cards in the Mamluk form came to Europe in about 1376. The
numeral cards remained practically unchanged. The figure cards which were
distinguished according to Islamic custom by ornamental and not by figurai
devices, were made in Europe into Kings, Marshalls and later into Queen» or
female servants (Unters). The no-longer-understood suit signs were soon
altered in Europe into most diverse forms and later alienated from normal
usage by the additions of artistic illustrations of greater interest to collectors
than to card players. Even the fate-determining additional cards of the Tarot
game were abused by currently fashionable illustrations.
The mass demand for playing-cards was satisfied by printing from woodcut
plates. The reduction of the obligate 10 numeral cards to nine necessitated
by the mechanical process was accepted by the card playing public. The
colouring of the cards was mechanised by the use of colour stencils. Finally,
in France, the process was further simplified by stencilling the numeral cards
entirely.
Another process, that of copper engraving, side-tracked the essential usage
of playing-cards. It was developed by artists who had little in common with
playing-card makers and who were only interested in creating a new medium
for presenting illustrations. Their laborious technique contradicted the very
idea of industrial mass production. Such cards were not made for practical
use by players as the patterns of animals and flowers on the numeral cards
made their distinction difficult. They became favoured collector items for
an art-loving middle class. Princes ordered cards to be painted for them with
illustrations and suit signs depicting royal circumstances. Even they became
probably exhibition pieces in royal art cabinets rather than cards for a game.
With this European development of usable and artistic cards in view, the
round, and even now hand-made, Indian playing-cards represent a gameorientated
simplicity and gayness of colour which excites our admiration.