Board Game History

  • Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations
    This is Robert Bell's classic book, originally published in the 1960s, in which the rules and strategies for 182 board games and tabletop games are explained.
  • Oxford History of Board Games
    David Parlett's excellent look at the history of board games is an affectionate and authoritative survey of one of the most familiar parts of our cultural history, which has until now been inexplicably neglected.
  • History Of Traditional Games
    James Masters' site offer history, links and information about traditional games from around the world, inlcuding board games, table games, pub games, and lawn games. This is an outstanding and authoritative resource.
  • P. S. Neeley
    The author is "programming my way through history, one game at a time", with this fine collection of ancient and historical games, from civilizations such as the Mayans, Egyptians, Anasazi, Vikings, Aztecs, Sumerians, and more.
  • Roman Board Games
    The Romans played a wide variety of board games, including Knucklebones (Tali & Tropa), Dice (Tesserae), Roman Chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers (Calculi), The Game of Twelve Lines (Duodecim Scripta), The Game of Lucky Sixes (Felix Sex), Tic-Tac-Toe (Terni Lapilli), Roman Backgammon (Tabula), Egyptian Backgammon (Senet), and others. The rules for these games are not all well understood, but are presented and reconstructed here.
  • The Game Cabinet: Traditional Games
    The excellent Game Cabinet site contains this section on traditional games, with historical board games, classic board games, and card games.

Last Update: May 26th, 2011