The game of Mehen had died off for the most part by BC. As a result, the original rules of the game do not exist. There are variations of the game found throughout the world that keep the spirit of the game alive.
By putting together these variations, historians and game nerds have created a general set of rules for Mehen. If the rules below are too much for you, then check out this video:. Up to six players you will need at least two players will gather around the spiral disk. There are six playable pieces in the shape of lions, and each player will receive a collection of six balls.
Throwing sticks known as throw sticks will serve as two-sided dice, and each player will receive three of these. Every player starts with one of their six marbles at the outer edge of the spiral disk. Players will then roll their throw sticks to score points. Nowadays, many players use the following points system:. The game of Mehen is often split into two parts.
After reaching the center with all six balls, you will then reverse the process and bring the balls from the center of the disk to the outer edge. Once you have done this, you can then use your lion piece. However, this time, you will be using your lion piece to eliminate the enemy balls. Only scores of 2, 3, and 6 earned from the throwing sticks will progress a ball or lion on the game board.
Players save scores of one until they have reached the center. If you have four or more saved scores of 1, you may exit. If not, you will have to keep rolling the throw sticks until you have four scores of 1. The game ends when all lion pieces have gone through the board, regardless of how many balls remain on the disk. The winner of the game is the player whose lion ate the most balls.
If all of the balls on the disk are eaten before the game ends, the player whose lion reaches the start of the spiral on the game board first wins. Backgammon is another well-known board game that originated in ancient times. Backgammon is among the oldest games in existence. This suggests that Backgammon or at least, variations of the game was popular enough to spread into different regions. This is largely due to the amount of money people were losing when betting on the game.
Unlike Senet or Mehen, it is uncertain why the game was named Backgammon. In fact, the game was not called Backgammon until the mids. Backgammon is a two-player game. Each player receives their own pair of dice and a dice cup to shake the dice. Alongside the dice, each player gets fifteen game pieces that they play with.
Similar to Mancala, each player also has a home board. When you throw the dice, you end up with two numbers, one from each die. You can add the numbers together to move one piece twice or use each number for a piece—thereby moving two pieces in one turn.
The exception is if you roll a double. Then you have four times that number to use. So if you roll a double 1 then you have four 1s to use, in any combination you like. You can move 1 piece 4 times or 4 pieces 1 time or indeed 2 pieces 2 times. Yet if they only have one piece, you can take that piece by landing on it.
If one of your pieces is taken, it goes off the board. Once all of your pieces have returned to your home board, you can start removing them from the board.
You can remove any piece on your home board that is on a number you roll. So if you roll a 4, you can remove the piece from 4. The oldest pieces found date back to AD, while the oldest surviving book on chess theory was published in An earlier form of the game is believed to have been played in Eastern India in the 6th century, known as Chaturanga.
A board has been found in Ur, modern-day Iraq, dating from c BC. The aim is to be the first player to bear off — meaning to move all of their 15 checkers off the board.
So popular was the game in medieval France that Louis IX issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing it in — leading to a trend of boards disguised as books. One board found in Iran, made of ebony with turquoise and agate pieces, is believed to be more than 5, years old. Being accomplished in Go was extremely important in ancient China: it was one of the four essential arts required of aristocratic scholars, along with calligraphy, painting and being able to play a stringed-instrument called a guqin.
It is the oldest board game still continuously played in China. Go, then called Weiqi , arose in China around 3, years ago. Players take turns placing stones on a grid of by squares with the dual goals of capturing enemy tokens and controlling the largest amount of territory. Popular lore suggests Weiqi was first used as a fortune-telling device , or perhaps invented by the legendary Emperor Yao in hopes of reforming his wayward son. Whatever its true origins, Weiqi had become a staple of Chinese culture by the sixth century B.
Later, the game was included as one of the four arts Chinese scholar-gentlemen were required to master. In addition to Weiqi , aspiring academics had to learn Chinese calligraphy and painting, as well as how to play a seven-stringed instrument called the guqin.
During the 17th century, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate even established four schools dedicated to the study of Go. But by the early s, Go was back in full swing, and over the course of the 20th century, it gained a small but not insignificant following in the Western world. The family of games emerged between roughly and B.
The most popular mancala variant, Oware , finds two participants playing on a board with two rows of six holes. Though not technically an ancient creation, the Game of the Goose warrants inclusion on this list as the earliest commercially produced board game. Players vied to send their pieces to the center of a coiled, snake-like board, traveling counter-clockwise as guided by dice rolls.
To win—or claim a pot established at the start of the race—a player has to land on space 63 with an exact dice throw. Those who roll higher numbers than needed are forced to retreat back down the track. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history.
Website: meilansolly. Your paths are identical, however, and there does seem to be more strategy involved with this one. But instead of rolling dice, you toss sticks that have a light side and a dark side. There are also more complicated rules that add a decent amount of strategy to the luck of the toss.
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