Game of the Goose (Giocho dell'Oca)

Game of the Goose (Giocho dell'Oca)

by Signora Giata Maddalena Alberti

As researched by Signora Giata Alberti ~fleurtyherald@gmail.com

Image source.

 Players take turns rolling two dice and moving their pawn around the board by the sum of their roll. The board has all the same special spaces that Goose games throughout its history have included:

• The Bridge on space 6 that advances the player to space 12.

• An Inn on space 19 where the traveler tarries for one turn.

• The Well on space 31, where the visitor loses 2 turns.

• The Maze of space 42, wherein the traveler loses the way and returns to space 30.

• The Dungeon on space 52, where the prisoner remains until another arrives and the two trade places. An additional means of escape is to roll a 9 and go to one of the fields with dice.

• Space 58, where a cooked goose appears in place of the traditional Grim Reaper, sends the player back to start.

Additional rules:

A lucky throw of 9 at the beginning of the spiral path advances a player to one of the fields with geese (6+3 goes to space 26, 4+5 goes to space 53).

Landing on any of the pretty geese doubles a player's move.

To win, a roll must land you exactly on 63. The surplus is counted by moving backwards from 63.

Image source.

[Source: Fleurty Herald]

Bassetta

Bassetta

by Signora Giata Maddalena Alberti

From the Italian bassetta, a card game also known as barbacole, considered one of the most polite pastimes of the quattrocento to seicento. It was intended for persons of the highest rank because of the great losses or gains that might be accrued by the players. This game financially endangered some of the great French houses and was banned by the King of France.

Basset is a banking game, with a significant advantage for the house. It is purely a game of chance.

One player is the banker.

The banker has a full deck of cards, well shuffled. Each punter, or player, has the 13 cards of a single suit of a similar deck in front of him, or perhaps a board with marks for the 13 denominations.

Punters put bets on their boards before play begins. Once all bets are placed, the banker turns up a single card from his deck (made up of multiple decks of cards**) and wins all bets placed on the denomination shown (suit is ignored). After the first card is turned up the banker turns up cards from his deck in pairs, putting them on two piles alternately, until all bets are resolved or the deck is exhausted. Denominations that match a card turned up on the first pile lose their bets to the banker; denominations that match a card turned up on the second pile win. The banker must pay equal to any winning bets. As with the first card turned up, the banker wins any bets that remain on the last card turned.

On any winning bet the punter may decline his winnings and let the bet ride in the hope of further winnings. If the same denomination shows up again on the winning pile, the banker must pay seven times the bet; if the bet is let ride again and wins, the banker pays 15 times; if it is let ride and shows up a fourth time on the winning pile the banker must pay 30 times the bet. Finally, if it shows up four times in one deal, the punter lets it ride into the next hand, and the same card shows up winners a fifth time, the banker must pay 60 times the bet. The decision to let a bet ride is marked by bending up a corner of the card it lies on each time (this is destructive of cards, so it is suggested that you use some other way to mark a riding bet).

Once a payment is declined by a punter (leaving a bet to ride) the punter cannot change his mind until the card shows up again on the winning pile, when he again has the choice of taking his winnings or letting it ride.

** One deck of cards is sufficient for 2 to 3 players, each additional deck allows up to four more players.

SOURCES

Complete Anachronist #4. Indoor Games, or How to While Away a Siege. SCA, Inc.

Partlett, David. A History of Card Games. Oxford University Press.

[Source: Fleurty Herald]

Games (in Italy)

Games

Cards appeared in Spain and Italy about 1370, but they probably came from Egypt. They began to spread throughout Europe and came into England around 1460. By the time of Elizabeth’s reign, gambling was a common sport. Cards were not played only by the upper class. Many of the lower classes had access to playing cards. The card suits tended to change over time. The first Italian and Spanish decks had the same suits: Swords, Batons/ Clubs, Cups, and Coins. The suits often changed from country to country. England probably followed the Latin version, initially using cards imported from Spain but later relying on more convenient supplies from France.

In Orleans, France (1408) an inventory of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans lists “ung jeu de quartes sarrasines and unes quartes de Lombardie” (one pack of Saracen cards and one cards of Lombard, Dummet 42). During the Elizabethan era in England cards were block printed, unwaxed, bore a single image in the center of card, and had blank backs. The English used the French system of suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) while German and Swiss cards favored shields, acorns, flowers, and bells. Italian cards featured the latin suits of coins, cups, batons, and swords.

Two of the most popular games in Italy, where tarocchi (tarot or tarock) or trionfi (trump) decks were used, were scartino and imperiali. These decks had 78 cards; four suits numbered one through ten, a page, a knight, a queen, and a king, twenty-one tarots which acted as trumps, and a fool which acted as an ‘excuse’ or a special trump. The tarot deck was not originally used for divination, but for a trick-taking game that is one of the oldest card games known. The numbers on the trumps are the only thing that matter, the images have no effect on the game itself and as such could be altered at the engravers choice (Ortalli 24).
Most of the decks that have survived use the French Suit: Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. Yet even before Elizabeth I had begun to reign, the number of cards had been standardized to 52 cards per deck. Interestingly, the lowest court subject in England was called the “knave.” The lowest court card was therefore called the knave until later when the term “Jack” became more common.

SOURCES
Archaeologia by Daines Barrington, 1787
The Game of Tarot by Michael Dummett, 1980
The Prince and Playing Cards:The Este Family by Gherardo Ortalli, 1996

Game of Ruff (Italy, 1522) -

Needs: standard deck of cards, four players. Aim: to score nine points. Players agree on a stake. Deal 12 cards to each player and turn up remaining top card on deck to determine trump suit. The player with the Ace of the trump suit declares “I have the honour”, and scores a point for each of the four honour cards they hold (Ace, King, Queen, Jack). The player to the left of the dealer leads and all players follow suit. Aces high or trumps takes the suit. If they cannot follow suit, they may play any card. The winner of the trick leads. The players gain one point for every trick taken. If there is no winner, another stake is required and another hand played.

Draughts (Checkers, Europe, 1300s) -

In draughts the object of the game is to capture your opponent’s game pieces by making diagonal jumps over them. The game is a descendant of the Egyptian game of alquerque, which was played on a five-by-five-point board with twelve interlocking “L” shaped pieces. The game was played at court and in the taverns of England by all classes. The Earl of Leicester had a set made with pieces of crystal and silver and a board bearing his family’s heraldic crest. This game was also known as jeu force in France, for a game where a player must take and opponent’s piece whenever possible (as does alquerque).

Chess

Draughts (per Master Damiano Bellini) “was played in France, England, and the Spanish Marches before 1500. In the Italian version, the 8×8 board is placed so that the double black corner is on the player’s left instead of right. Each player has twelve pieces set up on the black squares of the first three rows in front of him. The pieces move only on the black squares and black has the first move. The pieces move diagonally forwards one square at a time and may not move backwards.

The object of the game is to capture or immobilize your opponent’s twelve pieces. A capture is made by a piece (man) jumping over an enemy piece and landing on a vacant square immediately beyond. If the capturing piece can continue to leap over the other enemy pieces they are also captured and removed from the board. When a piece finally comes to rest the move is finished.

If an uncrowned piece reaches the opponents back line it becomes a king. Crowning ends a move. After crowning a king can move diagonally backwards and forwards one square at a time, and captures by a standard jump. There may be several kings on the board at a time.

In Italian Draughts, a number of rules apply to captures (Bell 73):

• A player had to take when possible or lose the game
• A man (piece) could not take a king
• If he had a choice of capture he was forced to take the greater number
• If he had a choice of capture he was forced to take the greater number
• If this number were equal (each option containing a king) when there are two or more options, then he must capture wherever the king occurs first. This rule was known in Italy as ‘il piu col piu’ (‘the greater to the greater’)

SOURCES
Sports and Games of the Renaissance (2004) by Andrew Leibs.

Maw was developed in 16^th Century Ireland and was a favorite in the British Isles. The object of maw is to win three tricks or prevent other players from doing so. It can be played with anywhere from 2 to 10 players. A pot is decided and the winner gets the pot. If there is no winner, a second hand is played and the first to win three tricks gets the pot. Each player is dealt give cards from a 52-card deck. The top card of the remaining cards is flipped up to determine the trump. Regardless of suit, the trump cards rank; five, jack, ace of hearts, ace of trump, king queen. If the trump suit is red the remaining cards rank from 10 down to 2, and vice-versa if the trump suit it black. Non-trump cards of the same color rank the same as trump cards. The person to the left of the dealer leads, playing one card. The other players must follow suit or play a trump. If a player can do neither, she may play any card. A player can hold the five and jack of the trump or the ace of hearts if they choose, but lesser trumps must be played if the player can not follow suit.

Bingo’s Origins in Italy

Most agree that Bingo was first played in an Italian lottery called “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia”. The game appears on record around 1530 in the late Renaissance Italy. It is said to have developed from a game known as “Lotto” which in Italian means “destiny or fate”. It was first played in a period during a corrupt election that needed a fresh way to select a leader. Numbers were chosen randomly and the person who had that specific number would then be the new leader purely by fate.
Bingo then moved to France where it became known as “Le Lotto”. Bingo is still today played in France every Saturday in a similar fashion as we play nowadays. It is played with playing cards, tokens, and numbers called aloud.

Scartino
A card game called Scartino, the favorite of the Este family, is one of which we hear much from a brief period around 1500: there are over a dozen references to it between 1492 and 1517. We have no idea how Scartino was played, although it appears to have demanded a special type of pack; for instance, Lodovico il Moro wrote in 1496 to Cardinal Ippolito d’Este complaining that the latter had not sent him the carte de scartino that he had promised, and there are other references to orders for packs of Scartino cards. The game seems to have originated from Ferrara: it was a favourite game both of Beatrice d’Este, wife of Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, and of Isabella d’Este, wife of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Isabella also loved to use her impresa, or device, embroidered on her robes and painted on the playing cards. The name Scartino is presumably connected with the verb scartare, ‘to discard’, and games are often named after their most characteristic or novel feature. It is therefore a possibility that this was a trick-taking game in which a new practice was introduced, namely that the dealer took some extra cards and discarded a corresponding number. If so, it could be that it was from Scartino that this practice was taken over into Tarocco games, in which it had been previously unknown, and that Scartino, after its short-lived popularity, died out, having made a lasting contribution to card play. This, of course, is the merest guess: Scartino may not have been a trick-taking game at all, but, say, one in which the winner was the player who first contrived to get rid of all his cards after the fashion of a stops game.

Many wonder if it was appropriate for women to play cards. We know the Isabella and her sister-in-law Elisaetta were known to sit in the afternoon and “together they sang French songs and read the latest romances, or played scartino, their favourite game at cards, in the pleasant rooms which Francesco had prepared for his bride on the first floor of the Castello, near the Sala degh Sposi. Together they rode and walked in the park and boated on the crystal waters of the lake, or took excursions to the neighbouring villas of Porto and Marmirolo.”

A letter of August 1493 quoted by Malaguzzi-Valeri and by Luzio and Renier appears to imply that Scartino was a three-handed game. The earliest reference is from 1492; one is from 1509, one from 1517, and all the rest from the 1490′s. Several concern the obtaining or ordering of packs of Scartino cards (para de carte da scartino or para de scartini), which appear all to have come from Ferrara; what was special about these cards there is no way of telling. It is just conceivable that Scartino was itself a particular type of Tarot game, and that these were therefore Tarot packs of a special type; but, unless they were very special, it does not seem very likely that Lodovico Sforza should have been having to obtain Tarot packs from elsewhere. Most of the references are about games of Scartino being played.

We learn from Isabella d’Este’s brother-in-law letter to the Marquis in 1503 that playing cards was her regular pastime: “Yesterday I went with this illustrious Madonna and Signor Federico to the school of Messer Franceso, whose scholars recited a fine comedy exceedingly well. It was a very pretty sight, and pleased us all highly. Afterwards we drove as usual to take the air in the town, and returned to the Castello about five o’clock; and Madonna (Isabella) sat down to cards to spend the evening after her usual custom, and played till after eight. Then she rose from the table and told me that she would not come to supper as she felt pains, and went to her room, and we sat down to table, and I supped in the Castello. And before we had finished, the said Madonna gave birth to a little girl, and although we greatly desired a boy, yet we must be content with what is given us.”

SOURCES
Cartwright, Julia. Marchioness of Mantua
F. Malaguzzi-Valeri, La carte di Locovico il Moro, vol. 1, Milan, 1913, p. 575;
A. Venturi, ‘Relazioni artistiche tra le corti di Milano e Ferrara nel secolo XV’, Archivio Storico Lombardo, anno XII (pp. 255-280), 1885, p. 254;
A. Luzio and R. Renier, Mantova e Urbino, Turin and Rome, 1893, pp. 63-5, especially fn. 3, p. 63;
A. Luzio and R. Renier, ‘Delle relazioni di Isabella d’Este Gonzaga con Lodivico e Beatrice Sforza’, Archivio Storico Lombardo, anno XVII (pp. 74-119, 346-99, 619-74), 1890, p. 368, fn. 1, and pp. 379-80;
A Luzio I precettori d’Esabella d’Este, p. 22;
G. Bertoni, ‘Tarocchi versificati’ in Poesie, leggende, costumanze del medioevo, Modena 1917, p. 219;
Diario Ferrarese of 1499 in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. 24, p. 376.

Playing Cards

Master P W of Cologne’s pack of seventy-two rounded playing cards is generally believed to be his last work in the medium of engraving. This card, the 9 of hares, is 6.3 cm in diameter and was made circa 1500 in Koln, Germany. It comes from a pack of seventy-two round playing cards and is unique in having five suits, rather than the customary four: roses, columbines, carnations, parrots and hares. The images on the cards depict plants and animals based on the study of nature, rather than of model books as previous engravers of cards had done (VAM).

The 9 of Hares

An early use of the woodblock for printing was for making playing cards. Surviving examples of printed cards date to as early as about 1420. This sheet is thought to have been made by an artist called F. Durand in Rouen or Lyons in the first half of the 16th century. It has not yet been cut, showing the way in which cards were made for economy, printed many to a sheet and cut at a later stage. The high quality of detail and careful application of hand-colouring suggests that this pack was intended for a well-off client. It is an uncut sheet of playing cards, containing eight subjects, four Kings and four Queens bearing titles of legendary and historical personages (VAM).

French Woodcut From 1500s

SOURCES
Victoria and Albert Museum

[Source: La Bella Donna]

Scartino

 

May20by Fleur-de-Gigi

A card game called Scartino, the favorite of the Este family, is one of which we hear much from a brief period around 1500: there are over a dozen references to it between 1492 and 1517. We have no idea how Scartino was played, although it appears to have demanded a special type of deck; for instance, Lodovico il Moro wrote in 1496 to Cardinal Ippolito d’Este complaining that the latter had not sent him the carte de scartino that he had promised, and there are other references to orders for packs of “Scartino cards”.

The game seems to have originated in Ferrara. It was a favourite game both of Beatrice d’Este, wife of Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, and of Isabella d’Este, wife of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. Isabella loved to have her impresa, or device, embroidered on her robes and painted on her playing cards, which is why she had her decks commissioned by notable artists. The name Scartino is presumably connected with the verb scartare, ‘to discard’, and games are often named after their most characteristic or novel feature. It is therefore a possibility that this was a trick-taking game in which a new practice was introduced, namely that the dealer took some extra cards and discarded a corresponding number. If so, it could be that it was from Scartino that this practice was taken over into Tarocco games, in which it had been previously unknown, and that Scartino, after its short-lived popularity, died out, having made a lasting contribution to card play.

This, of course, is the merest guess (according to Dummet). Scartino may not have been a trick-taking game at all, but, say, one in which the winner was the player who first contrived to get rid of all his cards after the fashion of a stops game.

We learn from Isabella’s brother-in-law’s letter to the Marquis in 1503 that attending the theatre and playing cards was her regular pastime: “Yesterday I went with this illustrious Madonna and Signor Federico to the school of Messer Franceso, whose scholars recited a fine comedy exceedingly well. It was a very pretty sight, and pleased us all highly. Afterwards we drove as usual to take the air in the town, and returned to the Castello about five o’clock; and Madonna (Isabella) sat down to cards to spend the evening after her usual custom, and played till after eight. Then she rose from the table and … went to her room…”

So, since playing cards was a custom of noble ladies such as Isabella, I certainly want to add a few appropriate card games to my repertoire. I think learning Scartino would be meraviglioso!

Modern rules for an Italian card game called Scartino are:

Players: The game is played one on one or two against two in pairs.

Deck: To play you need a deck of Napoli (Naples) style cards.

Rules: At the beginning of the game the dealer deals three cards to each player. The deck is then placed at the center of the table and the first player’s turn begins to discard the top card. Takes who threw the highest card is the stake of that number. For example, if Player A discards a three of hearts while B throws a five of clubs, B will take the cards because it was the highest card between the two.

The only exception is the five card that takes any card except a five-pole belonging to the highest.

Finally there are the figures, said scartini, which are used to discard a card pulled from Rival Gaming. For example, if A discards a six card, and B an eight card, these two cards are excluded as in the discard pile and the points are given to B.

Winner: The first player to reach 112 points.

Scoring:

The order of the cards by points is as follows:

5 (The card with which you can take everything and that is worth 5 points)
7 (Normal card with the value of 7 points)
6 (Normal card with the value of 6 points)
4 (Normal card with the value of 4 points)
3 (Normal card with the value of 3 points)
2 (Normal card with the value of 2 points)
1 (Normal card with the value of 1 point)
10/9/8 (Scartini! These cards are valid points, but they can “discard other cards”)

The four marks (suits) of the Neapolitan (Naples style) cards are called poles and they are:
Coins – Denari
Swords  – Spade
Sticks – Bastione
Cups – Copa

Purpose: The aim of the game is to reach 112 points before your opponent.

Where can you buy cards? MacGregor Historic Games for a reproduction 15th Century Visconti Tarrochi deck!!

From their site: “Believed to be the earliest, and most complete surviving tarot deck. It was commissioned by the Visconti family who were the Dukes of Milan in the 1450′s. The face cards and Major Arcana on this beautiful decks have gold foil backgrounds.
Contrary to popular belief, tarot cards were used for games long before they were used for fortune telling. They were the ancestors to modern trump, or trick-taking games.
We also include our booklet with a short history of Tarot cards, and six of the earliest surviving Tarot games.”

SOURCES:
The Book of Tarot by Dummet

Website – http://www.regoledelgioco.com (for Scartino rules, translation double-checked as a courtesy by Paco Smith)

[Source: La Bella Donna]

Primero

Primero: A Renaissance Cardgame

Copyright 1994 by Jeff A. Suzuki

Primero is Renaissance cardgame that has many similarities to modern day poker. The following is my redaction, based on the description given by Giralamo Cardano in his "On Games of Chance", included in Oystein Ore'sCardano: The Gambling Scholar. As with poker, there are probably thousands of variants; this represents one.

The Deck

Primero can be played with a regular deck of 52 cards, with the 8s, 9s, and 10s removed. The remaining cards all have certain point values (regardless of suit):

• Face cards count 10
• 2 through 5 count 10 + their value; thus a 4 counts as 14
• Aces count as 16
• 6s and 7s count as three times their value: thus a 7 counts as 21

The Deal

Four cards are dealt, face down, to each player in the standard manner. (Cardano's description implies the cards are actually dealt two at a time, which, given the lack of laminated cards during the 15th century, seems to be a matter of convenience!)

The Play

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player has three options: bid, stake, or pass.


Bidding

In order to bid, the previous bid must be staked. Then the bid is announced. It consists of three things: the point total, hand type, and bid amount. The hand type must be higher than the previously bid hand type or, if it is the same, the point total must be higher.

The hand types are, in order of increasing rank:

• Numerus: two or three cards of the same suit
• Primero: one card of each suit
• Maximus: the Ace, Six, and Seven of one suit
• Fluxus: all four cards of the same suit
• Chorus: four of a kind

Note that even though all face cards are worth the same, you must have four of the same type of face card to form a chorus. (See variants, below)


For example, if a player had a 2 of clubs, 3 of diamonds, 4 of spades, and King of clubs, he would have a primero (one of each suit) and his point total would be 12 + 13 + 14 + 10 = 49; thus he could bid "primero 49". Any player after him who bid would have to beat a primero 49, either by naming a higher rank (e.g., Maximus) or a higher point total (e.g., "Primero 59"). If he wanted to bid 5 scudi, his bid in full would be "Primero 59 at 5 scudi".

Note that the point totals include only the total of the cards that make up the hand. For example, a numerus point total could be as low as 20. (If you've seen the earlier editions, this was not specifically pointed out)
Players may deliberately understate their point total or their hand type. For the above, the player can bid no higher than a primero 49, but could claim to have a numerus 49, or a primero 40.

Staking

Staking, or "covering" a previous bid involves putting money down. No other action is necessary or required. Unlike poker, you have only to cover the last bid, not all the bids since you last staked. Thus if the players are Alberto, Bernardo, Cinthio, and Domenico, and Bernardo bids "numerus 40 at 10 scudi", then Cinthio covers and bids "numerus 50 at 5 scudi", Domenico (if he wanted to bid or stake) would have to throw in only 5 scudi, not 15.

Passing

The major difference between primero and poker is that a player may pass without having to put money down. However, the player must discard one or two cards from his hand, and then draw the same number from the deck. As all the hands but numerus and maximus require four specific cards, this usually destroys the hand that you hold. Note also that you cannot "fold" out of a primero hand (like you can in poker).

Forced Staking

If no one bids, the hand ends and the player with the highest hand type wins; if two players have the same hand type, the higher point total wins the pot. (If no one bids, the pot is likely to have nothing in it!)

If someone does bid, this bid must be covered. If someone else stakes, the bid is considered covered.

However, if play returns to the last person who bid without being covered, the last person to pass must stake; this is called a "forced stake" (my term). The sequence of play is: pass, draw one or two cards, then stake. (The forced stake is one of the reasons why you are warned against playing primero with those who have much more money than you, for obvious reasons)

The last player to bid must then prove to the player who was forced to stake that he has at least what he claimed. Note that in all cases but numerus and maximus, this involves showing the player all four cards. After this, the player who was forced to stake may make a bid without naming hand type or point total. This bid does not have to be covered (but all players who pass must then draw as usual). If play returns to the player who was forced to stake without any additional bids, the hand ends as above.

Sample Hand

Alberto, Bernardo, Cinthio, and Domenico are playing primero. Alberto deals; two cards are dealt; Alberto gets a 2 diamonds (2d) and a 5 hearts (5h); Bernardo gets a Queen of clubs (Qc) and the ace of hearts (Ah); Cinthio has the 4 of spades (4s) and the 7 of spades (7s); Domenico receives the jack of diamond (Jd) and the king of hearts (Kh). No one wants to bid, so the remaining cards are handed out. Now the players hands are:

• Alberto: 2d, 5h, 7c, 6c
• Bernardo: Qc, Ah, As, 7h
• Cinthio: 4s, 7s, Qd, 6h
• Domenico:Kh, Jd, 2c, 5s

Since Alberto dealt, it is Bernardo's turn. He passes, so he must discard one or two cards and draw the same number. He discards the ace of hearts and draws the 4 of diamonds, giving him a primero.

Cinthio also passes; he discards the 4 of spades and draws the 3 of diamonds. This gives him a numerus, which is practically worthless.

Domenico already has a primero (one of each suit). As his point total is 47, he can bid up to a primero 47. Understating his bid, he announces a numerus 30. He bids 5 scudi, and keeps his cards.
Now it's Alberto's turn. He passes and does not have to put in money. Hoping for a maximus, he discards the 2d and 5h, and draws Ac and Js.

Bernardo has a primero, so he stakes (throwing in 5 scudi) and bids. His hand total is 61, so he bids numerus 32 and 10 scudi.

Cinthio passes, throwing out the Qd and getting a 6s. A good card, but it still leaves him with a numerus.
Domenico realizes his point total is nearly the lowest possible one for a primero (which he suspects Bernardo has, even though he only bid a numerus), so he discards his two face cards (worth only 10 points apiece), and draws Qh and 3h.
Alberto, though his point total is very high (65) is also pretty sure that Bernardo has more than a numerus. Thus he discards his Ad and Js hoping to get the maximus which would save him...and gets a Ks and 2h instead.

Since no one has covered the bid that Bernardo made (10 scudi), Alberto must cover it. He throws in 10 scudi; Bernardo shows him that he actually has a primero 61. Alberto smiles convincingly and throws in 10 more scudi.

Now Bernardo is in a quandry. He can throw in 10 scudi and keep his hand. Or he can pass, draw one or two cards (probably destroying his hand) and not throw in 10 scudi. He throws in 10 scudi.

Cinthio passes, throwing out the 6s, and drawing 5d. He still has a numerus.

Domenico also passes, throwing out his Qh and drawing the 6d.

Since play has returned to Alberto and no one has bid, the hand ends. Only Bernardo and Domenico have anything higher than a numerus. Since both of them have primero (Bernardo with a Qc As 7h 4d and Domenico with a 5s 2c 3h 6d), the point totals are compared. Bernardo's point total is 10 + 16 + 21 + 14, or 61; Domenico's point total is 15 + 12 + 13 + 18, or 58. Bernardo wins the hand.

Note that if someone had bid after Alberto's forced bid, play would continue normally. For example, suppose Bernardo cackled maniacally, threw down 10 scudi and said "Primero 40!". Then play would continue normally; if no one felt they could beat Bernardo's primero 40, poor Alberto would have to cover the bid again.

Variants

There is circumstantial evidence for certain variants. In no particular order:

• As I mention below, the "winner take all" endgame is mine entirely. Cardano spends a great deal of time discussing how the pot should be divided which, to my mind, says that in general the pot was divided according to a different scheme. Based on Cardano's description, I suggest the following division of the pot for those to whom the game is not sufficiently complex mathematically:
  • The person with the highest hand wins half the pot. This is consistent with Cardano's description of the game.
  • The person with the next highest hand wins half the remainder.
  • The remainder stays in the pot as an ante for the next hand.
• I strongly suspect that a bid of numerus was not actually permitted. (The circumstantial evidence being that the game is called primero, which is neither the highest nor the lowest hand). If you do not allow any bid lower than a primero, the resulting play is something similar to the "jacks or better" version of poker.
• Cardano is unclear as to whether the forced bid player was the only person who got to look at the other player's hand; it seems reasonable to give them some advantage over the other players.
• Another possible variant addresses the problem of no money in the pot: everyone must ante. Cardano mentions this is how some people play the game, though does not indicate that it is a universal practice.
• Cardano specifically mentions that, even though all face cards count as 10 points, you cannot form a chorus using different face cards. While I suspect it would totally upset the game balance by allowing non-identical face cards to form a chorus, there may be some compromise possible. Anyone who wants to playtest such a game is welcome to try, and email me with their results and/or suggestions.
• Also, in my version, you are only allowed to understate your hand total. A different version might allow you to overstate it. However, this would make the game as written unplayable, since the rule of bidding higher than the previous bid would quickly become unplayable (e.g., "I bid chorus 84!" which is the highest possible bid: four 7's.) If you want to play this way, the easiest "fix" is to require that each succeeding bid be lowerthan the preceding ones, no bid to actually be below the amount held in your hand.
• An additional possibility: Cardano is not explicit, but there is reason to believe that the highest bidder sets the hand type, and all others attempt to match that hand type with the highest point total. See below.

How This Redaction Came About

The English translation of Liber de Ludo Aleae, done by Sydney Henry Gould, appears as an appendix to Ore's Cardano: The Gambling Scholar. When I first saw it, and read Ore's (brief) discussion of primero in the body of the book, it occurred to me that it might be possible to turn Cardano's brief description of the game into a set of playable rules. The the page numbers refer to the Dover edition.


p. 206 to 207 discusses the deck, card values, and hand types, which are exactly as in the rules above.
p. 207, bottom: Cardano writes "Also chorus can always be concealed for primero and for fluxus when another has announced it". I have interpreted this as the rule of understating bids.

However, there is another possible interpretation. The previous sentence says "It is not permissible to count diverse bids as more than the greatest of these". On page 206, Cardano writes:

"Now there are two kinds of primero. In one, the greater number wins, and this number is different according to the nature of the hands.."

(The other type is where the lesser number wins --- a type of lo-ball poker --- though this is "very little in use".) This and some other isolated quotes suggest that one player announces a hand type, and everyone tries to build that hand type. If you do not have that hand type, you lose, regardless of whether what you hold in your hand is a higher hand type. For example, if the bid is primero, and you have a fluxus --- you lose the hand! As I'm writing this, it occurs to me that this would make for a much more interesting game; it also has the effect of upping the ante of the pot, as players bid to keep the hand from ending. It also has a nice sort of symmetry: a maximus is a numerus, and a chorus is a primero.


p. 208-209: Cardano discusses dividing the pot. I have eliminated this rule and substituted "winner take all", in the interests of ease of play. Also, Cardano is not very clear on who gets which part of the pot.
p. 212 (Cardano spends a few pages discussing cheating): This is the origin of the stake-or-draw rule. Cardano's exact statement is:

"He who, not having announced his primero or fluxus, shall have increased the deposit, except when purposely changing cards, loses his deposit; but if he has not increased it, he is compelled at the will of the others to change his cards..."

This sentence is fairly confusing. It seems to relate to the pot splitting mentioned earlier. If one uses a "winner take all" scheme, then (it seems reasonable to me) to interpret the last statement as saying that if one does not increase the pot, one must change cards.


p. 213 discusses the forced stake. Also, the necessity of exchanging one or two cards if one does not stake is explicitly written out.

Some things that are my invention:

• The necessity of increasing hand type or point total is mine alone. However, it seems to make sense: if Alberto bids a primero 57, Bernardo has no reason to bother announcing a numerus or a lower primero. (On the other hand, if you use the "bidder sets hand type" rule, above, then it is not necessary to increase the bid type or point total.)
• Also, the necessity of covering a bid before raising. I admit it: this comes directly out of poker. However, I claim play balance: it prevents someone from getting into a hand with a ludicrously low bid (e.g., Bernardo bids primero 50 and 40 scudi; Cinthio says primero 51 and 2 scudi, and thus for only 2 scudi, has a chance of winning 50).
• Finally, the revealing of the hand to the forced stake player. At several points Cardano mentions the necessity of a player revealing his hand to prove he either has or does not have a certain type of hand, but the conditions are somewhat vague. I have chosen to allow the forced stake player a look at the hand, mainly to provide some compensation for the forced staking. However, there are some points where Cardano's description seems to match a poker game of the "baseball" type, where a player's hand is revealed card by card; I have not been able to figure out the rules for this.

[Source: Primero - A Renaissance Card Game]

Ruff and Honors

Ruff and Honors

This game was first mentioned in 1522 by Bernadine of Sienna in a sermon as "ye Tryumphe." It was actually two slightly different games. In Ruff, 52 cards are used, with 12 cards being dealt to each player. The top card of the remaining four is turned over to determine the trump suit. In Honors, 48 cards are used. All of the twos are discarded. The final card dealt to the dealer is turned over to determine trump.

 The two games are played in a similar fashion. Play proceeds until nine points are scored by a team. Four players play the game. After the cards are dealt and trump is determined, the player with the ace of trump declares "I have the honor" and then asks her/his partner "Have ye?" If the team has three of the four honor cards (ace, king, queen, jack) they score one point. If they have all four they score 2 points.

 Play begins with the person to the dealers left. The player leads a card and all other players follow suit if possible. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card. The trick is won by the highest played card (trump or highest played in suit lead).

 The winner of each trick leads the next. Scoring for tricks taken is one point for every trick taken over six tricks. At least two hands must be played to win the game since the most points that may be scored in a single hand are 8.

If you are interested in a source for Elizabethan era playing cards contact me.

[Source: Elizabethan Card Games]
 

Bone-ace

Bone-ace

This game was first mentioned in "The World of Wordes" by Florio in 1611.  Like One & Thirty it is an ancestor to Blackjack.  Up to 8 players may play.  The dealer deals three cards to each player.  The first two cards are face down and the third face up.  It must be noted that the cards are dealt three at a time and not one to each player in order to make three.  The play is made in two parts.

Part One - The Bone: The player with the highest face up card wins the bone.  The bone is one coin or the previously agreed upon wager for the bone paid by each other player.  In the case of a tie the player with the elder hand wins.  Aces are high and the Ace of Diamonds or Bone Ace wins all.

Part Two: The player with the hand closest to 31 without going over wins.  Aces are eleven points, face cards 10 and the other cards have their face value.

If you are interested in a source for Elizabethan era playing cards contact me.

[Source: Elizabethan Card Games]

One & Thirty

One & Thirty

this card game dates back to at least 1440.  During that year Bernadine of Sienne mentioned the game in an anti-gaming sermon.  This is one of a number of games dating from the 15th to the 17th Centuries that are ancestors to modern Blackjack.  The game was popular in both Spain and Ireland.

The game is for two or more players.  Each player is dealt three cards, face down.  The dealer starts the deal to the player on his left.  Starting with the eldest hand (the player to the left of the dealer), a card may be discarded face up by each player.  It is replaced by the top card on the deck or the previous card on the discard pile.  The player that comes closest to 31 with three cards in the same suit is the winner.  Play continues by discarding one card at a time until a player knocks twice on the table.  After the knock the players get one last discard.  The hands are then shown and the hand closest to 31 wins.  A player who hits 31 exactly wins automatically and does not have to wait for the knock or make a knock.  Ties are redealt.
Scoring is as follows: aces are 11, face cards are 10 and the rest are their face value.  A three of a kind (different suits) is worth 30 & 1/2 points.

If you are interested in a source for Elizabethan era playing cards contact me.

[Source: Elizabethan Card Games]

Maw

Maw

This card game is reported to be Gaelic in origin. Supposedly it was a favorite of James VI of Scotland. The earliest record of the game comes from Ireland in 1551. The earliest rules are from Scotland, 1576.

 Two to ten players may enter the game. All players bet an even amount to enter. The object of the game is to win either three or five tricks or to prevent another player from doing so. The winner of three tricks wins the pot. If there is no winner, another bet is wagered and added to the pot before the next hand. If a player wins the first three tricks they automatically win the pot. If they play to the forth trick they must win the rest of the tricks to win the pot. In this case normally the players must put in extra money. If the player does not take the final two tricks they are penalized. Normally by matching the pot.

 To start play, each player is dealt five cards from a normal 52 card deck. The top card of the remaining is turned up to determine trump. The cards in the trump suit rank five, then jack, then ace of hearts regardless of the trump suit. Then ace of trump (if not hearts), king and queen. Now, depending on the color of the trump suit the remaining cards will be ranked different. For red they are ranked 10 down to 2 and for black they are ranked 2 to 10. Non trump cards are similarly ranked.

 Play commences with the person to the dealers left. This person plays a card and all the other players take turns playing a card of the same suit if they have it. If they do not have the suit they may play a trump. If no trump then any card. They need not play the 5 & jack of trump or the ace of hearts if they do not desire. Lesser trump must be played if the player is void in a suit.

 At times the rules will change slightly. All changed rules must be stated by the dealer before dealing and betting commences.

If you are interested in a source for Elizabethan era playing cards contact me.

[Source: Elizabethan Card Games]

Tablero de Jesus

Disclaimer. This was not actually a period game, though many people think it was. It's history however is a complete fabrication. See the following article for details.

Originally a gambling game, turning this into a drinking game is very straightforward: one just replaces the coins with shot glasses.

Description follows:

This game is played with two dice, a seven by seven checkerboard and a fifteen coin stake supplied by each player. It was very popular in Spain and in the Spanish possessions in the Low Countries during the first half of the XVth century. It was banned by the Pope in 1458, the ban enduring until the early XXth century!

SET UP

Each player rolls a die. Reroll ties. The low roller places five coins on either of rows 1 or 7, no more than one per column. The high roller places two coins likewise. The low roller plays first.

A game of Tablero de Jesus in progress

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| X |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   | X |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   | X | X | X |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   | X |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   | X |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

GAME PLAY

Having thrown the dice, the player loses them to his opponent on a throw of 7, 11 or 12. On any other throw, he must move two coins, one per die -- the same coin may not be moved twice. Each coin moves within the same column, never diagonally or across. The player moves each coin either away from or towards his side, by the number of rows indicated by the dice. A coin may not be moved back and forth on one die. If the player is unable to use both dice, he moves neither coin and loses the dice to his opponent.
After having moved the coins, if there are two or more lined up in a contiguous row (other than rows 1 or 7), the player may take them from the board. In that case, his opponent replenishes the vacated columns from his own stake and then takes the dice. If the opponent has an insufficient stake, the game is over.
When receiving the dice, they must be thrown at least once.

If a row of seven coins is created, the moving player may announce a "run". The opponent must then stake two coins on the run. The running player throws the dice. On a 7, 11 or 12, he loses the run and his opponent collects all nine coins. Otherwise, the running player collects the two coin stake and has the option of keeping on running. This keeps on until the runner stumbles, the opponent is unable to stake two coins, or the running player decides to take the seven coins.

WINNER

The winner is the player with the most coins when the game is over.

TURNING TABLERO INTO TOBLARO

The coins are replaced with shotglasses, or more exactly their contents. When coins are "captured", the winner simply gets to drink their contents, the loser refilling them from his bottle.

[Source: The Game Cabinet]

Senet

The Game of Senet

Article by Catherine Soubeyrand.

Senet is an Egyptian race game and may be the ancestor of our modern backgammon. We know of this game through ancient Egyption boards that have survived to this day. More than 40 have been discovered, some in very good condition with pawns, sticks or knucklebones still intact. The oldest known representation of Senet is in a painting from the tomb of Hesy (Third Dynasty circa 2686-2613 BCE).

The game board is composed of 30 squares: 3 rows of 10 squares each. If we number each square, the board can be represented like this:

 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

The path of the pawns probably followed a reversed S across the board.

Squares 26 to 30 have symbols on them. We will represent them in order by X, O, III, II and I. It seems that the square with an X, carrying the sign nfr, was beneficial, whereas the one with an O, associated with water, had a negative meaning. Square 15, also called the "square of Rebirth," might have been the starting square.

Other elements found with the gameboards were pawns. The Hesy painting shows a game with seven pawns for each player. Then, some time after 1600 - 1500 BCE, the players were represented with seven or five pawns. Some games have even been found with ten pawns per player.

The movement of pawns was probably decided by the throw of four, two-sided sticks (as depicted in the Hesy painting) or, later, knucklebones might have been used to determine the moves.

What was the function of Senet? A game or something more? In his book, Lhôte notices that the first pictures show two human players whereas later the human player is depicted alone with an invisible opponent. It appears that Senet began as a simple game and later acquired a symbolic, ritual function.
Of course, the original rules of Senet are not known. No record of the rules on papyrus or tomb wall has ever been discovered. It is very difficult to reconstruct the game through the pieces and the tomb images.

Kendall's Rules

A summary of Timothy Kendall's work on the reconstruction of the rules of Senet is given in the book by Lhôte.

1. At the beginning of the game the seven pawns per player alternate along the 14 first squares. The starting square is counted as the 15th. In the oldest games this square featured an ankh, a "life" symbol. The pawns move according to the throw of four sticks or, later, one or two knucklebones. When using the sticks the points seemed to have been counted from 1 to 5: 1 point for each side without a mark and 5 points if the four marked sides were present together.
2. When a pawn reached a square already occupied by an opponent pawn, they have to exchange their positions.
3. The special squares have the following effects on play:
   
   • 15 : House of Rebirth, starting square and the return square for the pawns reaching square number 27.
   • 26 : House of Happiness, a mandatory square for all the pawns.
   • 27: House of Water, a square that can be reached by the pawns located on squares 28 to 30 which moved back when their throws did not allow them to exit the board. They have to restart from square 15.
   • 28 : House of the Three Truths, a pawn may only leave when a 3 is thrown.
   • 29 : House of the Re-Atoum, a pawn may only leave when a 2 is thrown.
4. The winner is the first to move all of their pawns off the board.

Bell's Rules

Another version of the rules was proposed by RC Bell.
Each player has 10 pawns. Four two-sided sticks (one side painted) are thrown to determine movement.

• When only one painted side is visible : 1 point.
• With two : 2 points.
• With three : 3 points.
• With four : 4 points.
• With none : 5 points.

1. At the beginning of the game there are no pawns on the board.
2. Each player in turn throws the sticks, and puts his pawns on the board on the squares with the symbols I, II, III, X, O according to the number of points thrown. Only one pawn may be present on each square. So if a pawn is already present the turn is lost.
3. A player may either move one pawn or add a new pawn to the board, if possible, with each throw. The pawns located on the marked squares are in shelters.
4. Pawns may not be stacked. When a pawn arrives on a square already occupied by an opponent pawn, the opponent is removed and must restart from the beginning. This rule does not apply for the marked squares which are shelters.
5. The first pawn to reach square number 1 earns a bonus of five points and it fixes the goal of the game: that player's other pawns have to reach odd squares whereas the opponent must reach the even squares. The game ends when the pawns of the two players are alternately placed on the first and second rows.
6. When a pawn has reached its last square, it cannot be attacked.
7. The first player to have put all his pawns on his own squares wins the game and earns 10 points. He also gets one point for each move his opponent makes while placing all of his remaining pawns.

Bibliography

R.C.Bell, The Boardgame Book, 1979 Marshall Cavendish Ltd, London
Kendall Timothy, Passing Through the Netherworld : The Meaning and Play of Senet, an Ancient Egyptian Funerary Game, 1978 Belmont, The Kirk Game Compagny
Lhôte Jean Marie, Histoire des jeux de société, 1994 Flammarion
Pusch E.B, Das Senet Brettspiel im Alten Agypten, 1979 Berlin

[Source: The Game Cabinet]

Ur

The Royal Game of Ur

Article by Catherine Soubeyrand.

This time we leave Egypt to move East and reach the region of Mesopotamia. The Royal Game of Ur gets its name from two boardgames which were found in tombs by Sir Leonard Wooley, who was carrying out excavations in the ancient city of Ur in the 1920s.

The two boards date from before 2600 BCE. Each of the game boards is composed of a set of twelve squares and a set of six cases linked by a bridge of two cases. One of the two boardgames is famous and is exhibited in the collections of the British Museum in London. It is sumptuously decorated with shells carved with lapis lazuli and limestone. The squares are all covered with geometrical designs. The picture below tries to give you an idea of the beauty of this game board. Notice the five squares with a rosette.
The second game board is decorated with sheets of shell carved with images of animals and fighting beasts.
Sets of pawns were also found: seven white pawns with five black dots on each and seven black pawns with five white dots. Also two sets of three pyramid-like dice.

Another game board was found more recently in the tomb of the Queen Shub-ad, located about one thousand kilometers from Ur. The design is simpler with only threes square decorated with a rosette.


A cuneiform tablet of Babylonian origin that describes this game has recently been discovered by Irving Finkel, curator at the British Museum. The tablet dates from 177-176 BCE but it describes the main elements concerning the course of the game. Interestingly enough, at that time people used knucklebones instead of pyramidal dice.

"The tablet shows the number and the names of the pawns, one of the dice (two knucklebones: one of sheep, one of ox), and a few details concerning the throws. It appears clearly that each of the five pawns owned by the players were different from one another and that a special throw was required to place each pawn at the beginning of the game. Among the twenty squares on the game board, five are generally decorated with a rosette and it seems that those squares are important in the course of the game. The tablet shows that those squares brought good luck, to place a pawn on them gave an advantage. If a pawn did not stop on a rosette, a penalty had to be paid. The scribe has described the fate of each pawn in a poetical way, the wins and the losses corresponding to the same efforts required to win enough food, drink and love." [1]

A description of the movement of the pawns is unfortunately missing. The back of the tablet [3] shows four by three squares with zodiac signs and messages of good and bad luck. Mr. Finkel supposes that this was a simple game and a way to foresee the future and the fate of the players.

All of these give very interesting hints but not enough solid information to actually play the game. So I base my description here on the rules given in "Le monde des Jeux" [2], which are based on two older rule sets proposed by R.C. Bell ("Board and Table Games", OUP 1969) and Frederic V. Grundveld in "Games of the World".

Rules of the Game

Each player has seven pawns, and three pyramidal dice each with two red and two white vertices. This is a race game. The goal is to introduce the seven pawns, to move them along your designated path, and to be the first to have all the pawns out of the game, similar to backgammon. The start square for each player, the path followed by each player, and the five special, rosette squares are shown in the drawing below. The exit square is the one between the two rosettes.

Movement points are determined by the roll of the dice as follows:

• three red vertices yields 5 points and the right to take another turn
• three white vertices yields 4 points and the right to take another turn
• two white vertices yields no points and the turn passes to your opponent
• one white vertex gives 1 point and the turn passes to your opponent

1. Draw lots to determine the first player.
2. The board is empty at the beginning. Pawns may be introduced on your first square by rolling a 4 or 5.
3. Any pawns already on the board may advanced one square along your path for each movement point thrown.
4. Except when they are on the refuges (see point five of the rules) or have entered the central line, pawns may be attacked by opposing pawns moving in the same direction. If a pawn lands on a square already occupied by an opposing pawn, the opposing pawn is removed from the board and has to restart the game from its start square.
5. A player may have as many pawns on the board as they wish. Each square, except for the rosette squares and the leaving (last) square, may be occupied by one and only one pawn.
6. The rosette squares and the last square are refuges: several pawns of different colors may be present without any danger.
7. Each pawn must reach the last square from which it can leave the board on a throw of 4 or a 5.
8. The winner is the first player who moves all of their pawns off of the board via the exit square.

Bibliography

1. Lhéte Jean Marie, "Histoire des jeux de société", 1994 Flammarion
2. Jack Botermans, Tony Burrett, Peter Van Delft, Carla Van Splunteren, "Le monde des Jeux", 1987 Cté Nlle des Editions du Chêne
3. Finkel Irving : "La tablette des régles du jeu royal d'Ur", Jouer dans l'Antiquité, cat. exp., Marseille, musée d'Archéologie méditerranéenne, 1991.

[Source: The Game Cabinet]

Game of the Goose

Rules of Play for the Royal Game of the Goose Start right in to play and have fun with these games.

You'll find that the race on both sides of the gameboard is much more challenging than in backgammon because these games, especially the Labyrinth game, have added a series of obstacles and shortcuts.

And you'll find the creative strategies of taking not just one counter but a whole team through to be an enjoyable adventure on either side of the board.
Number of Goose players: Two or moreGoose Equipment : Gameboard, 2 dice, and
1 counter per player in the traditional version
(Compare the team version below.)
 To start : Each player chooses a distinct color of playing piece.  Each player rolls the two dice, and the highest roll determines who plays first. Turns move clockwise.

The gameboard pattern is a spiral of 63 fields, from the outside to the inside. Many fields have special hazards or benefits for players who land on them. The object of the game is to travel along the spiral from field 1 to field 63, and the first player who successfully lands exactly on field 63 is the winner.

On each turn, a player rolls the two dice and advances the counter along the spiral by as many fields as the sum of the two dice. The player must deal with any situation on the space landed on, be they hazards or benefits. The special bonus and hazard fields are described on the next page.

Start with all players' counters in the space outside of field 1.  Take turns rolling the dice and moving.  It is not necessary to roll any particular number to enter a counter onto the fields.

Two playing pieces may not occupy the same field at the same time. Whenever you land on an occupied field, that player's counter goes back to the space you came from, and you get the vacated space. (In brief, you trade places.)

Whenever you land on a field with a goose, you double your move. That is, you advance again the sum of the dice you just rolled. If that puts you on yet another goose, advance again, until you no longer land on a goose. (You may land in a trap yet, after all this wild-goose chasing.)

You must arrive on field 63 by an exact count of the dice. If you overthrow the required number, you must step forward into 63 and then move backwards the surplus number of points. If this lands you on a goose, continue moving backwards the same count again.

You may use the number of either of your two dice to reach field 63. If you reach it with an exact count, it is not necessary to use the number on the second die. If neither of the two dice has the exact number you need to reach 63, you must use their sum for your back track.

The spacing of the goose fields is such that a roll of 9 on a first turn would send a player directly home, so a special provision is made for a roll of 9 on the first turn: If the roll is a 6 and 3, move directly to field 26; if the roll is a 4 and 5, advance all the way to 53. This rule applies only to a player's very first roll of the game. Rolling doubles does not count extra and has no special benefit.

The Special Fields:
6 The Bridge -- If you land on 6, advance immediately to field 12.
19 The Inn -- The good food and drink makes you sleepy, and you lose I turn. (Exception: if another player lands at the Inn within the same turn, you change places and you go back to the space that player just came from.)
31 The Well -- If you fall in the Well, lose 2 turns—unless another player landing there releases you sooner, sending you back to the field that player just arrived from.
42 The Maze -- You get lost and go back to field 30.
52 The Prison -- If you land in prison, you stay there until another player landing there relieves you and you go back to that player's last field.
58 Death -- Your goose is cooked. Go back to the beginning and start all over.

One of the attractions of the Game of the Goose was its potential as a gambling game. Players would ante 4 tokens at the beginning of the game and pay one token at each of the 6 special fields. If a player landed on another player's field, both paid one token and changed places. The winner took the pot.

Rules for the
Team Variation of the Goose Game

Number of players: Two or more
Equipment: Gameboard, 2 dice, 4 counters per player for up to four players, or 
2 counters per player for five or more players.

Start and play as for the traditional game, with these exceptions : When you roll the two dice, you may use each of the two numbers separately.  You can use one number for one of your counters and the other number for another of your counters.  A little strategy will let you keep your counters out of the major pitfalls.

When one of your counters lands in the Prison, only that counter is stuck. You are free to move the others.  However, when trapped at the Inn or the Well, you lose those turns and cannot move any of your counters for the duration. This is a lively race, so stay alert.

You may reach field 63 with an exact count on either die. When one of your counters reaches field 63 by an exact count, bear it off the board.  The first player to bear off all four counters wins. 

Continue to read about the Riddle of the Labyrinth, or buy the Game of the Goose and of the Labyrinthat www.gamepuzzles.com

©1982 to 2014 H. Peter Aleff. All rights reserved.

[Source: Recovered Science]

Dogs and Jackals

Article by Catherine Soubeyrand.

We continue our trip on the shores of history but remain in Egypt.
This time let me introduce you to a game whose name and rules have also been forgotten among the mists of the past. It is known as the game of "Dogs and Jackals." We know of it by way of a famous boardgame found in an Egyptian tomb. It belongs to a family of games named "game of the thirty points" or "game of the fifty eight holes".

Many gameboards or pieces of gameboards have been discovered in Egypt but also in Palestine, Mesopotamia and Assyria. A very nice boardgame has been found in the tomb of Reny-Seneb, XII dynasty, about 1800 BC. This beautiful game in ebony and ivory, has the shape of a small piece of furniture. The gameboard is a rectangular (15x10cm) wooden box, put on four animal legs. The top in ivory is carved with a palm tree and fifty eight holes.



Schematic drawing of the gameboard.


In the drawer within the box, ten pawns were found. They look like short sticks, five carved with a dog head and five with a jackal head. The pawns were placed in the holes of the gameboard, they certainly describe a trail that the pawns have to follow. Holes showings marks (15), circles, or inlays might have played a special role in the course of the game. Were the lines between 10 and 24, or 20 and 22 some shortcuts ?

Rules as Proposed by R.C.Bell

The game is for two players. Five dogs are given to one and five jackals to the other. You will need three pieces of money to use to determine movement. The goal is to reach the five points (25 to 29) on your side of the board and win the dates.

For the moves the conventions are:

• one head = one
• two heads = two
• three heads = three
• three tails = five and a free move

The Play

1. Both players agree on a stake.
2. The right side of the board belongs to the dogs and the left to the jackals.
3. The brown circle above the palm tree is the starting point. The pawns move then on the side of the gameboard trying to reach the top of the tree (25 to 29).
4. Exact throws are required to reach the final positions. The order in which it is done has no importance.
5. The two players throw the three coins in turn. A five is required to introduce a new pawn on the starting point. Then the pieces are thrown again to move the pawn.
6. The first pawn to reach a hole with an horizontal mark (15 on dog side) wins the stake.
7. Only one pawn may be put on a hole. If no move is possible the throw is lost for this player.
8. If a pawn reaches a hole linked to an other hole by a path (10-24, 20-22), it follows the line which acts like a ladder to the victory.
9. A player must move his pawns when he can do so. If he can move no pawns, his or her opponent is allowed to add his throw to his or her own .
10. The first player having put his five pawns in the five holes (25 to 29) wins the game.

Bibliography :
R.C.Bell, The Boardgame Book, 1979 Marshall Cavendish Ltd, London

[Source: The Game Cabinet]

Kingibats

Seen cited in a childrens book as an actual Dark Age game but not sure what the evidence is. Regardless, the simplicity of the game makes it a plausible Dark Age invention and it's good parrying practice for combatants.

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When making centre boss shields, keep the approx. 8-inch diameter circle of wood which you cut out. Put a handle on the back that you can hold comfortably and use the bat to parry with. Make a ball by wrapping a stone in many strips of cloth or leather (a tennis ball works just as well and is safer if childen are joining in or you are playing near parked cars). Each player holds a bat apart from the one designated thrower. The thrower tries to get people out by

• Hitting any part of their body with the ball
• Catching the ball (before it bounces) when a player has hit it with a bat

Players protect themselves by either dodging or parrying the ball with the bat. The thrower cannot move when he/she has hold of the ball. When a player is out, he/she drops their bat and joins the thrower in attacking the rest of the players. Throwers can pass the ball between them. At the end of the game, the winner (i.e. the last person left holding a bat) is rewarded by becoming the thrower in the next game.
If more people want to play than you have bats for, the excess just play by dodging the ball and then pick up a bat when one is dropped by a person being out. Bats can be painted in group shield colours to personalise them.

[Source: Kingibats]

Gameball

Game of the Month: Football

by Dagonell the Juggler

Surprise! Football is period, although our ancestors would probably have sneered at all the rules and regulations we've added to our game. Medieval football was called "Gameball", `game' being the Old English word for fight or battle. The rules were much simpler ... there weren't any! First team to get the ball into their opposing team's goal, wins.

The ancient Greeks and Romans played "Harpastum", a game which combines elements of Soccer, Rugby and American Football. The Romans imported this game into England during the time of Julius Caesar; however it wasn't until the Middle Ages that the game really caught on.
The sides were seldom equal. There were no limits to the number of players. Women as well as men played. In a friendly pickup game among knights on a campaign, the goals were probably only a few dozen yards apart. In regular games between neighboring villages, with everything the phrase `traditional rivals' implies, it was not unusual for the goals to be hundreds of yards or even one or two miles apart.

The ball was a pig's bladder, at first stuffed with dried peas and later inflated with air. We still refer to a football as a "pigskin" even today, when modern footballs are made from cowhide. From Sports and Pastimes by Strutt, originally published in the early 1700's. "The ball, which is commonly made of a blown bladder and cased in leather, is delivered in the midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to drive it through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved, the game is won." The illustration is a woodcut from Strutt's book showing a football being inflated. A neutral person would throw the ball into the air as high as possible between the two teams and then run for dear life as the teams converged. There was no penalty for roughing the ref. The ball could be carried, kicked, passed or thrown, whatever got it closer to the goal.

The medieval version of the Superbowl took place on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Entire towns participated and some games literally lasted for several days. The tradition continued off and on from the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries.
As you may have realized, the potential for for mayhem was enormous. Documented instances of crippling injuries, including several fatalities, abound. A papal dispensation was issued in 1321 to a player who accidentally killed an opponent. Kings Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry V, Henry VI, Lord Oliver Cromwell, and Queen Elizabeth I, all prohibited the game due to the number of injuries it caused and because it took time away from archery practice. The laws were ignored.
In the mid-fifteenth century, a variation called "Kicking Camp" developed. The ball could ONLY be kicked, not carried or thrown. This game later developed into European football, called Soccer. The game of American Football evolved from the original game of "Gameball" which continued to be played right up to the Renaissance.

Bibliography

Football History -- http://wwwwbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/user/tiny/fhistory.html
The History of English Football -- http://www.the-english-football-archive.com/football_history.htm
The History of Football -- http://www.nenyl.org.uk/history_of_football.html
Reeves, Compton Pleasures and Pastimes of Medieval England (England; Alan Sutton Pub.;1995; ISBN 0-7509-0089-X; 228pgs) Barnes and Noble recently bought the printing rights for this previously out-of-print book.

[Source: Dagonell's Game of the Month - Football]

Bowles

Bowles was an ancient game, dating back at least to the time of the Romans. Its modern day descendants include bocce ball and lawn bowling. The rules below are taken from the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas website.

Object 
The object of the game of bocce is for one team to get as many of their balls closer to the pallina than the opposing team's closest ball.

Play 
The toss of a coin determines which team will start. The starting team chooses which color (or pattern) ball they will play with. The first team member throws the pallina and then rolls his/her first ball as close to the pallina as possible. It is now up to the opposing team to roll a ball closer to the pallina than the starting team.

If the opposing team uses all four balls and fails to get closer to pallina than the starting ball, the starting team rolls each of their remaining balls, trying to place them closer than the opponent's closest ball.

However, if the opposing team succeeds in placing one of their balls closer to the pallina, the starting team must then roll again to attempt to get closer or "better the point". Each team continues to roll until it beats the point of the opposite team.

While the object is to get close to the pallina, it is permissible for a player to roll his/her ball as to knock an opponent's ball away from the pallina. Likewise, a player may knock or move the pallina toward his/her own team's balls. The pallina is playable anywhere on the playing surface.

Scoring 
When all balls have been played, this concludes the frame and ONE team is awarded one point for each of its balls which is closer to the pallina the the closest opposing team's ball. Thus, a team may score up to four points per frame. If the closest ball of each team is equal in distance from the pallina, NO points are awarded. The team that scores in a frame starts the next frame by throwing out the pallina and playing their first ball. Play continues until a team wins by reaching a score of sixteen points. 

Asalto

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History

Asalto or Assault is a variation of the popular Fox games, where one player is a fox and the other is a geese or sheep. The game has its origins in Spain and England as well as France, where it is known as Assaut.

The Board

The board is similar to the Fox and Geese board, except that the nine points are designated as fortresses, and are separate from each other. The board is crossed shaped and contains 33 holes connected by straight and diagonal lines. Nine of the holes located in one of the cross's arms are the fortress.

The Pieces

There are 24 pieces of one color, which will be foot soldiers and 2 pieces of another color, which are officers or sharpshooters.

Rules

To move: Officers may move in any direction, one space at a time along the lines. Foot soldiers can only move forward, diagonally or sideways. They cannot move backwards. While they cannot jump the officers, they must try to trap them in the battlefield or the fortress to win. Capturing: An officer can capture by jumping over the solider if the next available space is vacant.

To win: The foot soldiers win by either occupying every point of the fortress or by trapping the soldiers inside the fortress or on the battlefield. The officers, on the other hand, try to capture the soldiers on the battlefield or the fortress. In order to win they must capture at least 15 soldiers.

The board is initially arranged so that the top nine holes in one arm of the cross contains the two officers or sharp shooters. They may be arranged anywhere within their fortress. The 24 soldiers are placed outside the fortress. The sharp shooter or officers go first in this game. They are allowed to move in any direction along the lines one space at a time. They can capture by jumping over the soldier into a vacant space. Soldiers are allowed to jump and capture as many times as they can on their turn as long as they are able to land in a vacant space after each capture. Play then alternates to the soldier, who are only allowed to move forward and diagonally. On their move, soldiers should attempt to trap officers inside the fortress or battlefield. They are not allowed to jump. A variation of game involves huffled where the officer is removed from the board if he does not capture a soldier when he is able to do so.

Variants

Huffled: An officer is removed from the game if he does not capture a soldier if the move is available.

Diagonals: Variations of the game can be played without the diagonals.

Movement: Alter the rules so that the officers are not allowed to move backwards.

Number Of Officers: Change the number of officers from two to three in the fortress.

Alternate Names

Spain And England: Asalto

France: Assaut

England: Officers And Men

Germany: Festungsspiel, Belagerungs-spiel

Denmark: Belerjringspel

Sweden: Belagringsspel, Fastningsspel

Iceland: Beleiringsspil

References

Murray, H.J.R. A History of Board Games Other Than Chess.New York: Oxford University Press, 1951, p. 104-105.

Provenzo, Asterie Baker and Eugene F. Provenzo Jr. Favorite Board Games You Can Make. New York: Dover, 1981, p. 174-175.

Gamescrafters

Robert Liao (C Author)

Michael Chen (C Author)

Eudean Sun (Tcl Author)