Period Dice Games: Series One, Easy

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, May AS 38

There are many variants on games using dice from all over the world. To narrow things down a bit we will only be looking at dice games that require nothing other than dice to be played (except, of course, for some coin to gamble with on the outcome). These games all use the common six-sided dice that are most common today. (Some games, like Blind Dice, needed special dice.) They are all also relatively easy to learn and to teach to new players. There do exist period dice games (such as Medio Azar, Panquist or Al-Falahia) which are much more complicated.

As Much with Two as with One

For this Spanish game two dice are needed.

1. Each player throws one dice to see who goes first. (Presumably the person closest to 6. A roll of 1 would be re-thrown.)

2. Each player would then take turns throwing both dice until someone’s roll matched the first cast.

Equal with an Ace

This Spanish game needs three dice to play.

1. Players take turn throwing all three dice.

2. The first to roll a double and a 1, won.

Hazards

This game existed between at least 623 and 1600 CE and was known by many names. This is a simplified version that could easily be played in the food court at Pennsic.

1. Player 1 takes two dice and rolls the “main”. The main must be 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. Player 1 throws until one of these numbers is achieved.

2. Player 1 then throws the two dice to determine his number, which had to be a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. If it was a 2, the player lost, and all bets placed on him were lost. (Others were free to place bets with each other on the outcome of the players’ rolls).

3. If the main is 7 and the player rolls a 7 or 11, or the main is 8 and the player rolls an 8 or 12, the player wins. If the main and the number are the same, the player wins.

4. Once the main and number were rolled, if they did not match any of the previously mentioned combinations, the player continued to roll until he matched his main or his number. If he rolled his main, he lost. If he rolled his number, he won.

5. Play then proceeded to the next player.

He Who Throws Most Wins

This is most likely the easiest dice game possible.

1. Players take turns throwing a predetermined number of dice.

2. Whoever has the highest result, wins.

In and Inn

A game for two or three players, requiring four dice.

1. Player 1 rolls the dice. There are several possible outcomes. If he rolls doublets, it is an inn. If no doubles are rolled, it is an out. If four of a kind, or two sets of doubles are rolled, it is an in and inn. (Triples count as a double.)

2. Inn beats out while in and inn beats inn.

3. If everyone throws the same, the round is over. Presumably the pot either carries over to the next round or is split between all players.

4. If two players tie, they roll again or split the pot between them.

Lottery

Six dice are needed to play.

1. A set number of numbers between 6 and 36 were designated as winning numbers.

2. Players then rolled all six dice. If their roll equaled one of those set numbers, they won.

Passage

A game for two players using three dice.

1. Player 1 rolled the dice until he rolled triplets.

2. If the result was 10 or higher, he won the pot and continued throwing. If the result was under 10, he lost and play proceeded to player 2.*

*Salallamah gives results for over 10 and under 10, which would leave no result if the total on the dice equaled 10. Therefore I have assumed that 10 counts as a win.

Shut the Box

Thought his game is often played with a board, it can be played without one as follows. Players will need 11 dice.

1. Set up nine dice so that the following numbers are shown: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. (The second 1 represents 7, the second 2 represents 8 and the second 3 represents 9.)

2. Player 1 rolls two dice. He can them remove the dice that correspond to his roll, or remove the one that equals the total of his roll. (For example, if player 1 rolls a 3 and a 4, he could remove the 3 and the 4 or the 7.)

3. Once the 7, 8 and 9 have been removed the player rolls one die.

4. His turn ends when a number cannot be removed. The numbers left are then totaled.

5. Player then proceeds through the rest of the players.

6. When all players had finished, the one with the lowest total won. The losers paid the winner the difference between his result and theirs. (So, if player 1’s turn ended when he had only the 1 left, and player 2’s turn ended when he still and the 9 left, player 2 pays player 1 eight of whatever currency they are bidding.)

Thirty-One

This die game is the ancestor of the card game of the same name. The object is to come as close to scoring 31 points as possible, without going over. It was played with two or three dice. Rules varied from place to place and time to time. Below is a very easy version of the game.

1. Player 1 rolls the dice until he reaches a number close to 31. If he goes over 31, he looses.

2. Player 2 then does the same.

3. Whoever is closer to 31, wins. If both end with the same number, whomever reached that number with the fewest dice rolls, wins.

4. If the number of die rolls are also the same players can either split the pot, carry the pot over to the next round, or cast one more die each, with the highest number taking the pot.

Three Throws

1. Player 1 rolls any set number of dice three times. The results of all three rolls are combined.

2. Play then proceeds from person to person. High score wins.

3. In the case of a tie, those players may cast again between them, or split the pot.

Sources

Lord Brusten de Bearsul, The Compleat Anachronist: Non-European Games, Vol. 78, March 1995.

The Compleat Anachronist: Indoor Games, No. 4, January 1983.

Medieval & Renaissance Games Home Page: Rules to Period Games: Board and Dice Games

Patrick J. Smith, The Compleat Anachronist: Period Pastimes, Vol. 71, January 1994.

Salaamallah the Corpulent (Jeffrey A. DeLuca), Medieval Games, third edition, August 1995.

History of Dice

History of Dice: Images

The International Bone Rollers Guild

Making Dice and Knucklebones

Eachna's Celtic Knucklebones Page

What the Mongols Did for Fun: Playing with Shagai

By Qadanchin Bayar

Mongols are a very resourceful group of people. The barren landscape and extreme weather conditions in which they live make agriculture impossible, thus forcing them to find sources of food in cattle, game, fish, and other foodstuff obtained by trade.

It is the combination of the abundance of sheep and horses, the harsh weather, the gregarious nature of the Mongols and their thrifty use of their resources, that fostered the development of activities like horse races and the different variations of “Shagai” or games with anklebones.

A Shagai is a small, moving bone located in the “knee” articulation of the back legs of certain mammals (the tarsus), especially those animals with cloven hooves, and whose back legs bend the opposite way of the front legs. This can be seen in dogs, cats, horses, sheep and cows.

Top: Goat side. Bottom: Camel side.

These bones were also known as “Tali” and “Astragalus” in Rome and Greece, and were the precursors of dice, given their somewhat regular shape and four distinctly shaped sides. A theory worth investigating would be that early pastoral cultures with good access to goats and sheep would have used these bones as dice before they achieved a degree of tool skills that allowed them to carve more regular dice out of other materials.

Mongols use Shagai to play different games all through the year, and especially during winter, when the temperatures force most of them indoors. The hardier persons like to play “Ice Shagai”, a game that can trace its roots to the times of Chinggis Khaan, an ardent player himself.1

To play Ice Shagai, the participants set two “goal post” stones on a large frozen surface, most of the times on a wide river. Between these stones, they then set five Shagai in a line. The players place themselves 80 meters away from the Shagai and throw a ball made out of shaped hide, with the objective of hitting an anklebone and making the ball slide further between the marker stones. This game is incredibly challenging, not only in terms of skills, but also in endurance. It takes a very hardy Mongol to play on the ice at winter temperatures of minus 30°degrees Celsius!2

Luckily, there are plenty of other games that can be played with Shagai, that don’t require being outdoors. They can vary in terms of complexity and duration. However, at the time this was written, they cannot be documented within the SCA period. Since we don’t know the Mongolian name of each of these games in their native language, I will call three of them the “Horse race”, the “Mongolian Jacks” and the “Anklebone shooting game”. Due to space limits, I will only describe the horse-race game and the Mongolian Jacks, and will briefly describe the anklebone shooting game.

The horse-race can be played by two or more players, with a “racetrack” made of a line of at least ten bones. The longer the track, the longer the game will last. Each player puts one bone on its “horse” side (see above picture) besides the beginning of the racetrack line. After deciding who goes first, the players will take turns throwing an anklebone as the dice, and when it lands on the “horse” side, they will move their bone on the starting position one step further along the racetrack (measured by bone size). The player whose “horse” reaches the end of the bone racetrack wins.3

Mongolian Jacks are played a bit like modern Jacks, but without a rubber ball. A given number of bones (the more bones, the longer and more difficult the game) are thrown on a hard surface. One player immediately has to pick up all the bones that have fallen on the “horse” side from the pile, without touching any other bones. If he does, the turn goes to the next player, who gathers the remaining bones and throws them again, to repeat the process. The player with more “horses” wins. An interesting variation of this game is using a small square piece of chainmail as a ball, throwing it upwards and picking the bones with the other hand. If either the player touches other bones that are not “horses”, the bones fall from the hand, or are picked with the other hand, the player loses the turn.4

Top: Sheep side. Bottom: Horse side.

Lastly, the anklebone shooting game in which, after throwing several bones on a hard surface, a player has to identify pairs of bones that have landed on the same side (sheep-sheep, horse-horse, goat-goat, etc.) and flicks one of the pair of bones to try to hit the other bone of the same pair (like playing marbles), but without touching other bones or bones fallen on different sides. The rules of this game are more extensive and make the game increasingly more difficult for the winner as it progresses.5

As we can see, there is no shortage of game possibilities to be played with these humble bones. They can be dyed or marked to establish a “target” bone; they can be thrown down on a slanted surface to try to hit any of the bones below, or be used as imaginary cattle to play betting games... the possibilities are endless.

Shagai are easy to obtain from sheep, they don’t require specialized skills to prepare, and by their nature, are free. These factors make the Shagai very popular and abundant among the Mongols, who love to get together to play, listen to music and chat at any given occasion.

How to get your own Shagai

Let’s face it. Urban dwellers don’t have too many sheep roaming around, and the chances to get back lamb legs that haven’t been cut through the knee joint aren’t that great. However, if there is a “Halal” meat-shop in your neighborhood (where meat comes from certified sources and is handled according to certain health/religious practices), you have good chances of finding complete lamb legs, or asking the butcher to sell you only the section you want.

Another point to consider is how squeamish you are by handling raw meat and bone, or if you are vegetarian. In this case, you are better off finding a store that sells either plastic replicas of anklebones (also called knucklebones) or making them out of sculpturing clay. It is advisable also to practice safety precautions when you manipulate the raw meat and cut open the legs with a sharp knife.

In my case, I stumbled on a few difficulties that make for a great learning experience. I got a pair of front legs and proceeded to boil them. Needless to say, I will be eating lamb for quite a bit...

After much hacking and whacking, I discovered that the front knee is made of several small bones, none of which looks like those in the pictures above. I then decided to try with the section close to the hooves, without success. Baffled with this, and thinking that my lamb was genetically altered, I searched the web for clearer instructions. I found confusing references to knuckles and ankles, but nowhere was it mentioned that the shagai, tali or astragalus is located in the back legs.

My inspiration came when I searched for the word “astragalus” in the dictionary, and it mentioned that it formed part of the “tarsus”. The middle joint bones of the front legs (or arms) are called “carpus”, from which we get “carpal tunnel syndrome”, whereas the back joint bones (or foot bones) are called “tarsus”. Eureka! Enough with the anatomy lessons.

I bought my back legs of lamb, this time buying only the joint section, and cut them open without boiling them first. I found the Shagai in between the long spur of the joint, and the lower leg bone. It was easier to extract it without boiling the section first, because the tendons are softer and the bones can be separated easier.

Once you obtain the Shagai, it should be boiled in water for 30 minutes to make the gristle become easier to clean off. If you wish, you can then dye the bone using fabric dye, or mark it with a Dremel or a cutting tool.

Happy playing!

Notes and references

1. The Secret History of Mongols, translated by Francis Woodman Cleaves, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University Press, 1982, Cambridge, Mass

2. Mongolia Today – Online Magazine, Issue No. 5, www.mongoliatoday.com

3. In conversation of May 24, 2002 with Gülügjab Tangghudai of the Silver Horde, Province of Ostgardr, in the East Kingdom (m.k.a. Luigi Kapaj).

4. In conversation of May 24, 2002 with Gülügjab Tangghudai of the Silver Horde, at Ostgardr, in the East Kingdom (m.k.a. Luigi Kapaj).

5. From the web-pages of Daniel Andre Roy. 

Useful links

· Eachna's Celtic Knucklebones Page, for methods to clean and play with knucklebones. 

· Roman Board Games, for the type of games Romans and Greeks used to play with knucklebones. 

· MacGregor Historic Games – Dice & Dicing Games, for plastic replicas of knucklebones. 

· The Silver Horde, for Mongolian culture within the SCA. 

Is Tablero Period, and Should we Care

By Colyne Stewart (March AS XXXVI/2002)

One of the first games I learned about when joining the SCA was Tablero de Jesus. That may have had something to do with the fact that the Peers here in Ealdormere (and seemingly everywhere) are enamoured of this drinking game. When I originally asked about its origins I was told that the game was likely invented by someone in the SCA. However, upon doing a bit of reading (in the few sources I could find) I came across claims that it was a 15th Century Spanish gambling game.

Recently a discussion on the Games Guild of Ealdormere e-list has re-sparked my interest in tracking down the origins of this game, so I began my research a new.

While most sources claim that the gambling game was invented in Spain in the 15th Century, there are some in An Tir who claim that it was a good gentle from that kingdom that added the drinking component. There, they call the drinking version Tablero de Gucci (Lilith Runesdattir). Other sources say that the Scots added the drinking component, and called the game Toblero (The Game Cabinet).

For documentation all we have is second hand information. According to a post to hist-games, made by Justin de Coeur, Tablero was likely introduced to the SCA by a fellow named Gerhard Kendal. He there quotes photocopies given him by Amanda Kendal of Westmoreland (Gerhard’s wife) that were written by I.Y. Erzbergen-St.Susse, Ph.D., Queenswood Professor of Medieval Studies at Brunswick University. De Coeur says the photocopies gave the following history of Tablero:

1.   That the game is known to have been played by Cistercian monks at the Abbey of Los Santos de Campo in Granada by 1404 and that boards have been found in a few Spanish abbeys, as well as Tuscany, Provence and the Low Countries.

2.   That the Abbot of Cleaves in England, in 1449 refers in his journal to "the Jesus boarde".

3.   That the Bishop of Limoges defended the game in 1446.

4.   That the game was banned by Pope Sylvester V in 1458.

5.   That Cardinal Martino d'Allesandro says in his memoirs that he introduced the game to the papal court in 1456.

6.   That the board being sold by Erzbergen-St.Susse is based on one found at the Abbey of Saint-Michel-des-Fosses in Provence. This board is highly decorated, with a floral motif covering most of the squares and featuring various religious symbols on some of them. No one seems to know if these symbols influeneced play or were merely decoration, but in the footnotes there is a reference to a British professor Bryce Ryefield as having given an opinion on one of the odder symbols on the board.

However, according to other sources, and my own research, all these arguments are flawed. We will look at each in turn.

First, that the game was played by Cistercian monks at the Abbey of Los Santos de Campo in Granada by 1404. I cannot find any record of such an abbey. Senhora Ester Mendes says, in her post to hist-games, that no abbey existed at that time by that name. This doesn’t seem unremarkable, since during 1404 Granada was under Muslim rule!

Likewise, I can’t find record of any city named Cleaves in England, supposed home of  the Abbot of Cleaves, who wrote of the game in his journal. Mendes claims that the only Cleaves she could unearth was a town in Germany.

As for the Bishop of Limoges, well. There was indeed a Bishop of Limoges in 1446, but I cannot find any mention of him tied in with Tablero (other than on pages quoting the same source material). It may have been helpful if the Bishop’s name had been supplied.

And what of Pope Sylvester V, who supposedly banned the game in 1458? Such a person did not exist. The New Advent Online Catholic Dictionary has no listing for a Sylvester V (though there were Sylvesters I through III). Callistus III was Pope in 1458.

Neither does there exist any record of Cardinal Martino d'Allesandro or Professor Bryce Ryefield. Even the author of the game’s history itself, Dr. I.Y. Erzbergen-St.Susse, seems to be a fabrication. I can find no record of her/him, nor of a Brunswick University. Everyone and everything quoted to support the existence of Tablero does not seem to exist itself.

It would seem that Gerhard Kendal’s source material is flawed. In an email copied to hist-games and dated July 25, 2001,

Gerhard claims he learned the game from Duchess Merowyn de Lyoness of the West Kingdom (Teceangel). Pouring over the Order of Precedence for the West Kingdom I did not find a Merowyn de Lyoness, though I did find a listing for Merewyn de Lyonesse.

It is possible that this is the same person, and Gerhard Kendal simply misspelled her name (and gave her the wrong title; this good gentle is credited as a Viscountess, not a Duchess). I have personally emailed Gerhard Kendal to ask him about Tablero, and in response he sent me the exact same email posted to hist-games. (He also said he’d send me a photocopy of his board and documentation but has so far not done so.) I have thus far been unable to track down an email for Viscountess Merewyn de Lyonesse.

In looking at further posts on hist-games, I found one by Melissa Kendal of Westmoreland, who claims that her brother, Andre Lessard (Derek Stevens), invented the drinking aspect of Tablero, after learning the game in 1976 from Maelgwyn and Merewyn de Lyonesse. I emailed Melissa to see if she had any more information on the subject but have not heard back from her.

So, what is the verdict?

Without being able to consult primary documentation first hand, and having its supposed points of support repudiated, we must work under the assumption that Tablero is a modern invention.

Does this mean that we should stop playing and teaching it? I don’t think so. Though the SCA is at its heart a recreation group, it is often billed as ‘the Middle Ages the way they should have been.’ We’ve taken the idea of the Middle Ages and made our own sub-culture. So if a game is developed within our culture, should we not play it? It is something unique to us, and part of who we are. As long as we don’t teach it as a true period game, but rather as an SCA game, I see nothing wrong with letting it prosper (not that anyone could stop it if they wanted to). I would rather see someone playing an SCA game than not playing a game at all.

Sources

Baron Steffano, Cardinal da Gucci and al Khabeelah McGurn of Ravensfuri, Baron Steffano’s Guide to Tablero de Gucci, Fourth edition

Dagonell the Juggler, Tablero de Jesus.

The Game Cabinet, Tablero.

Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland, “El Tablero de Jesus”, The Compleat Anachronist #4: Indoor Games, or How to While Away a Seige, January 1983. 41-42.

--. post to hist-games (forwarded by Teceangel), Aug 8 2001.

Justin de Coeur (Mark Waks), post to hist-games, Feb 1 2000.

Lilith Runesdattir (Jeanne Salt), Tablero, 1998.

Melissa Kendal of Westmoreland (Heather Stecher), post to hist-games, February 3 2001.

New Advent Online Catholic Dictionary.

The Rolls Ethereal.

Salaamallah the Corpulent (Jeffrey A. DeLuca), Medieval Games, Third Edition, 1995. 135-136.

Senhora Ester Mendes (Kirsti Thomas), post to hist-games (forwarded by Teceangel), Aug 8 2001.

Thierry Depaulis, posts to hist-games, Jan 29 2000,  and Feb 2 2000.

Ten Thousand

By THLaird Colyne Stewart

[Since writing this article I have discovered that Ten Thousand is not a period game. It has a fake history, much like Kube and Tablero de Jesus.]

To date this has been the most popular game when I’ve held dicing classes. I know personally it has helped me pass the time on many occasions, and I carry dice in my pouch at all times should the need arise.

The oldest references to this game seem to be to a French version, Dix Mille. Called Auf die 5000 in Germany.

This game has dozens of names and variations (including Sixes, named for the number of dice used to play), including several commercial versions. Farkle is the best known modern version.

The game is played to 10000 points. A player must roll 1000 points on one turn before they can start counting points. Each turn after they have scored 1000 points they need to score at least 400 to count points for that turn. You want to roll as many 1's or 5's as possible, or at least three of a kind. A 1 is worth 100 points, a 5 is worth fifty, three of a kind is worth 100 x the number (so three sixes is 600), getting three or more 1's is worth 1000.

So player one rolls the dice. S/he then sets aside any triples or better. If they don't have any they can set aside as many 1's or 5's as they want. Any dice left over are re-rolled. If you manage to set aside all your dice you can re-roll all six and keep adding the points. If you ever make a roll where you cannot set aside a 1, 5 or triple or better, your turn is over and you score no points that turn. Play then proceeds to the next player. You can stop rolling at any time, but must have either 1,000 or 400 (depending) to score your points for that turn.

Sources

The Games Forum

hist-games, various posts