This list of English tables games shows, in tabular form, those tables games originating in England together with their chief characteristics.
Tables games are one of the oldest forms of board game. Archaeological evidence shows that games of this type date back several millennia. In England, it is known that the Romans brought the game of tabula to these shores; a game that later appears to have developed into aleae. There is evidence of tables games being played from the 11th century, although no descriptions of play are available until the 14th century when a royal manuscript outlined the rules of several such games:
- Ludus Anglicorum or the English Game
- Ludus Lombardum or the Lombardy Game
Notation edit
The notation used to describe the setup and movement in the following table is illustrated (right). The point notation is based on the British Museum MS, but with the amendment in quadrant IV by Murray[1] The quadrant notation is intended to follow the same sequence around the board and happens to coincide with that used by Macho et al. (2012).[2]
| Name | Earliest mention |
Sources of rules |
Pieces per player |
No. of dice |
Tables used |
Setup | Movement | Image of setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish Earlier variant |
1333 | Willughby (1672) | 15 | 2 | all | White: 15 on a Black: 15 on z |
White enters in af, moves amnz, bears tz Black enters in tz, moves znma, bears af |
|
| Ludus Anglicorum The English Game |
1333 | Royal 13 A XVIII | 15 | 3 (also 2) | all | White: 15 on a Black: 15 on z |
White enters in af, moves amnz, bears tz Black enters in tz, moves znma, bears af |
|
Footnotes edit
References edit
Literature edit
- Macho, José María Arribas, Alejandro Almazan Llorente, Beatriz Manas Ramirez and Antonio Félix Vallejos Izquierdo, eds. (2012). Historia de la Probabilidad Y la Estadística VI. Madrid : National Uni.
- Murray, H.J.R. (1941). "The Mediaeval Games of Tables" in Medium Aevum, Vol. 10, ed. by Charles Talbot Onions. Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature. pp. 57-69.