The first complete set of this game was discovered from a Theban tomb that dates to the 13th dynasty. Hounds and Jackals, another ancient Egyptian board game, appeared around 2000 BC. Senet was pictured in a fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300–2700 BC). 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively, is the oldest board game known to have existed. Senet, found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents shed light on early board games such as Jiroft civilization gameboards in Iran. īoard games have been played, traveled, and evolved in most cultures and societies throughout history. įurther information: History of games Ancient board games Ĭlassical board games are divided into four categories of game: race games (such as Pachisi), space games (such as Noughts and Crosses), chase games (such as Hnefatafl), and games of displacement (such as chess). The time required to learn to play or master a game varies greatly from game to game, but is not necessarily correlated with the number or complexity of rules games like chess or Go possess relatively simple rulesets, but have great strategic depth. Rules can range from the very simple, such as in Snakes and Ladders to deeply complex, as in Advanced Squad Leader. Their representation of real-life situations can range from having no inherent theme, such as checkers, to having a specific theme and narrative, such as Cluedo. Pandemic is a cooperative game where players all win or lose as a team, and peg solitaire is a puzzle for one person. In checkers, a player wins by capturing all opposing pieces, while Eurogames often end with a calculation of final scores. Most feature a competition between two or more players. Young girls playing a board game in the Iisalmi's library in 2016.īoard games are tabletop games that typically use pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.

Board game revolution