Ancient boardgames

[MegaHiro91]

I know the title is vague since many boardgames are thousands of years old, and that's the intension with the thread. Do you guys play any games that are ancient in origin? Personally I have taken an interest in the ancient Egyptian game called Senet which is said to date back about 5000 years and "possibly" be the first, though experts still can't agree on that. So ancient in fact that while there are general agreed upon rules, these rules vary a bit depending on who you ask, as we really have no idea how the original game was played, which is why modern rules are something we have pieced together by documents here and there.

 

[rugal]

wari or warri also known as mancala
a old game they did play in ancient egypt
did learne to play it as a child
have played it alot and still play it

 

[MrChester]

A family of games known as Tafl games (but we would just call it Viking chess)
There are a few different variations with different sized boards but the ones I'm most familiar with are Tablut:

And Hnefatafl:

The way I understand it - historically this game was very popular in Europe and surrounding areas but was superseded by chess in the 1500s. It doesn't really play anything like chess but it does have a chessy vibe.

Also, I know this isn't an ancient game but I went on holiday with some friends and whilst we were there they got like really invested in Perudo (also known as Dudo, or Liar's Dice) which is that game they play in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Snowballing is quite common in all of these games but personally I think that's what gives them their appeal. Modern game design tends to treat snowballing as a purely negative thing and I think efforts to combat it can often make games feel too swingy and unnatural. I get modern games also have to factor in the spectator experience in a way games never quite had to in the past, but watching my friend clutch a perudo game he almost certainly should have lost just through deceitful skill alone has stuck with me more than anything I've seen out of the fighting game scene for years (saying this as an upset fighting game lover, not a hater btw)

 

[Raggs]

I used to play Mancala which I first learned when playing Quest for Glory III (no joke). I didn't know it was a real African game until my aunt came back from Africa with the exact same board game she bought in store. I had to teach her how to play.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

There's a nice leather mat for Fox and Geese on Etsy I would love to buy but can't justify the price when I wouldn't have people to play with. I guess dice games themselves are ancient so Liar's dice might be the oldest I've ever played.