The Oldest Games in the World

No matter the era, people have always loved board games. Boards and pieces have been uncovered all over the world (especially in Egypt it turns out) and some are even carved into ruins, where they can still be played today! In this article, we’re going to look at the history of a handful of these games and see how they’ve evolved from one another over the centuries.  Please note, dating anything this old can be a bit tough, and that seems to be especially so with board games. Take these dates with a grain of salt. And if dating them is tough, interpreting their rules is doubly so. Unfortunately, some rules will only ever be speculation, but this leaves room for them to be interpreted in multiple ways, so there are more versions for you to try!

Note: CE is short for Common Era, and BCE is short for Before Common Era.

? BCE – MANCALA / WARI

Dating the earliest edition of Mancala has proven to be a very difficult task. The board, though found in many configurations, always consists of two rows of small circular divots or bowls carved into a surface. This design is so simple that some academics argue whether the divots are game boards or merely decoration.. As such, estimated dates and locations range from Egypt in 2500-1500 BCE, Jordan in 7000-5000 BCE, and 200-800 CE in Roman settlements, among many more. Regardless of how it’s dated and wherever it came from, Mancala is still popular around the globe today (and is my personal favourite on this list). 

3500 BCE – MEHEN

Mehen is one of the oldest games that’s been dated with reasonable confidence, though with anything this old, there tend to be some gaps in the story. The Mehen game board is circular with a segmented snake spiralling into the centre. The only problem, however, is that no game pieces have ever been found with or depicted with the board. Some small lion figurines and limestone balls have been recovered, and it’s widely accepted that these pieces belonged to the game. With many Egyptian board games, it’s believed that Mehen is a depiction of the journey to the Afterlife. In this instance, the Serpent God, Mehen, protectively encircles the Sun God, Ra, and the movement of the lions represent a King’s Journey to the afterlife. 

3000 BCE – BACKGAMMON

Backgammon, or at least this style of it, seems to appear in many iterations throughout history, which at least says something for its popularity. The very earliest games that resemble what we consider modern-day backgammon were played by Ancient Romans, though at the time it was known as Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, or ‘Twelve-Lined Game’. Similar versions of the game have also been found in Persia, now known as Iran.

2600 BCE – SENET

Senet is one of the more well known Ancient Egyptian games, with four sets of the game being found buried along-side Tutankhamun. With some games, we’re lucky enough to find written descriptions of their rules but unfortunately Senet is no such game. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case - now there’s multiple ways to play Senet.. Senet is believed to be partially related to Backgammon, as it also follows a movement pattern resulting in pieces being moved and removed from a similar board.. It’s also believed that Senet was the inspiration for the Roman ‘Twelve-Lined Game’.

2400 BCE – ROYAL GAME OF UR

Royal Game of Ur is another believed to be related to Backgammon (it seems the Backgammon craze lasted for at least a good 600 years!) though this one is distinct enough to be given its own name. While there were many versions of this game, the most well-known one was found in the Royal tombs of Ur (which is how it got its name!) (nowadays Iraq). The game itself is credited as being from Mesopotamia in general. Royal Game of Ur boards tend to be highly decorated and like Backgammon boards, are split into four sections, though in this iteration, they’re unevenly spaced. 

2000 BCE – GO / WEIQI

Go, or Weiqi, first emerged in China, and while it was quite popular there, nowhere loved it more than Japan. It was common practice in Japan to award players who attended schools dedicated to studying Go an intellectual status. For generations, Go was considered an intellectual sport and was highly revered. While it might not hold quite the same prestige nowadays as it used to, Go has recently seen a resurgence in younger age groups and is steadily growing in popularity again (likely helped by the popularity of the manga and anime series, ‘Hikaru no Go’). 

1440 BCE – NINE MEN’S MORRIS

The earliest depiction of Nine Men’s Morris was dated to 1440 BCE in Egypt, though the game has been found all over the world. It was considered particularly sacred in Celtic communities where the squares and lines represented the cardinal directions and elements. The game could be considered an advanced version of tic-tac-toe; the primary aim of the game is to create ‘mils’ (rows of three), but in Nine Men’s Morris, you aim to create as many as possible, and can remove an opponent’s piece when you complete one.

1400 BCE – CHECKERS

Like many others on this list, Checkers was first discovered in Egypt, being mentioned in works of both Homer and Plato, though at the time it was likely called Alquerque. I find it interesting looking at the evolution of games along this list, and Checkers particularly stands out to me as a culmination and shift. A potential descendant of games like Go and Nine Men’s Morris, where pieces are opposed and captured, a potential predecessor to games like chess, and the start of an era in modern board game mechanics.

700 BCE – FIVE LINES

The Ancient Greek game, Five Lines, also known as Pente Grammai, was said to have been played by Ajax and Achilles during the siege of Troy! The gameplay itself is quite unique, though it could have its roots in Backgammon, with the aim of trying to move all your pieces to your own side of the sacred line. 

200 BCE – PATOLLI

Patolli is the only game on our list today which is strongly believed to have had gambling elements built into the mechanics. It’s believed that you would bring items or money along with you when playing the game, and whenever your opponent removed one of your pieces from the board, you were required to give them one of your items, and vise versa. The Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, and Mesoamerican communities that are believed to have been its founders often called it the ‘bean game’ as black beans were often used as dice, with one hole drilled into a side. 

200 BCE – HOUNDS AND JACKALS

Hounds and Jackals, another prominent Egyptian game, is believed to be a precursor to Snakes and Ladders! Players would move their hounds and jackals around the edge of the board and towards the larger hole at its top. Landing on links between different spaces would force the piece to move forward or backward, as a penalty or advantage. It’s also believed that this game represented a successful journey to the afterlife, and many have been recovered from a variety of tombs.  An Ancient Roman game, Ludus Latrunculorum is widely considered to be related to Checkers and an ancestor to Chess, but predominantly it’s accepted as a game of military strategy. As is the way with most of these games, there are many interpretations of the rule set and many ways to play.  200 CE – SNAKES AND LADDERS

  Snakes and Ladders, in this context at least, is widely considered a family of games rather than a game of its own. While the most well-known version is considered to be from India, there are many other versions such as Gyan Chauper (Ludo) and Pachisi (Parcheesi). This original format is believed to be reflective of Hindu Philosophy, representing Karma and Kama, or Destiny and Desire.   Tafl is understood to be an offshoot of Ludus Lantrunculorum whose rules shifted slightly after moving to North Europe. While it was quite popular for many years, Tafl was eventually overtaken by Chess, which shared similar gameplay mechanics but gained wider traction as a board game.   Surprisingly late in our timeline, Chess is a culmination of elements from various games we’ve looked at today.. The earliest form of Chess that is still comparable to its current iteration, would likely be Chaturanga which was known to be very popular in India by the 7th century. Many countries have had their own versions of the game over the centuries, and it wasn’t until the 18th that the modern day chess we (largely) know today emerged, with a few other alterations occurring in the 1800’s. Looking back over this list, you can trace a family tree between different mechanics and play styles. Many of these games are still extremely popular today! Even Chess is being iterated upon, evolving with board games like ‘That Time You Killed Me’ and the growing popularity of the video game ‘5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel’. To this day, you can play games that have roots stretching back thousands of years, or even try to play those original versions yourself! I guess that begs the question, what do you imagine what board games will look like in another 5000 years?