Tafl games

Tafl games, also known as hnefatafl games, are a family of ancient strategy board games from Northern Europe. These games were played on a checkered or latticed board with two armies of different sizes. Different names for these games include hnefatafl, tablut, tawlbwrdd, brandubh, Ard Rí, and alea evangelii.

People in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and Sápmi enjoyed playing tafl games. The Roman game called latrunculi influenced the development of tafl games during the medieval period. Although tafl games were replaced by chess in the 12th century, the Sámi people continued to play a variant called tablut until at least the 18th century.

In 1732, the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus wrote down the rules for tablut in Latin. These rules were translated into English in 1811. Today, all modern tafl games are based on this translation, though it contained many errors. New rules have been added to fix these problems, creating a variety of modern tafl games. Additionally, tablut is now also played using its original rules, which have been retranslated.

Etymology

The word "tafl" comes from the Old Norse word for "table," which was a general term for board games. In Scandinavia during the Viking Age, the specific name "hnefatafl" became popular. This name possibly means "board game of the fist," referring to the important central piece that represented the king.

In Anglo-Saxon England, the word "tæfl" was used for many different board games, but we do not know if they had a special name for this particular game. Some other games that sound similar but are different include halatafl (a game called fox and geese), kvatrutafl (an old version of backgammon), and skáktafl (chess). There was also a game called Fidchell in Ireland, and similar games in Wales and Brittany, but these were not tafl games.

Variants

The only tafl game with rules that are still known today is tablut, a game from the Sámi people. It was recorded by a traveler in 1732.

In medieval times, the main goal of the player with the king piece was to escape to the edge of the board, while the other player tried to capture the king. The games always had more attackers than defenders, with the defender having a special king piece in the center.

Alea evangelii

Alea evangelii means "game of the gospels". It was described in an old book from England in the 12th century. It was played on a board with 19 spaces on each side. The book showed the board as a religious story, but it was clearly part of the tafl family of games.

Ard Rí

Ard Rí means "High King" in Gaelic. It was a Scottish tafl game played on a board with 7 spaces on each side. The king had eight defenders and sixteen attackers. This game is not well documented, but one rule gave the defenders a big advantage, making the king almost impossible to capture.

Brandubh

Brandubh is the Irish name for this tafl game. Poems show it was played with five defenders, one of them a chief, against eight attackers. A beautiful wooden board was found in Ireland in 1932. The rules are not fully known, but modern players have made balanced rules using old poems and other tafl games as guides.

Hnefatafl

Hnefatafl, sometimes called "Viking chess", was popular in Scandinavia during the Viking time. Stories from that time mention the game, but the exact rules were never written down. We know it was played on boards with 11 or 13 spaces on each side. The name means "fist table" in an old Scandinavian language.

Modern hnefatafl

The old rules were lost, but people in the 1900s tried to recreate the game using the rules of tablut. Unfortunately, those rules had mistakes. Today, there are many different versions of hnefatafl, played both on computers and with real boards. Some versions have special rules to make the game more balanced.

Tablut

Tablut is the best-known tafl game from the Sámi people. It was still played in the 1700s and maybe even later. A traveler named Carl Linnaeus wrote down the rules in 1732 during his journey. The game was played on a board with 9 spaces on each side. The defender, called the king, started in the center, surrounded by eight defenders. Sixteen attackers started on the edges.

The defenders won if the king reached the edge of the board. The attackers won if they surrounded and captured the king. Pieces moved like the rook in chess — straight lines up, down, left, or right — but could not jump over other pieces. To capture an enemy, a player had to surround it on two opposite sides with their own pieces.

Tawlbwrdd

Tawlbwrdd was played in Wales. It used a board with 11 spaces on each side. One player had twelve defenders and a king, while the other had twenty-four attackers. The goal was to capture the king, and there were special rules for when pieces were placed between others.

Other modern games in the tafl family

Some newer games are inspired by tafl rules. For example, Swords and Shields changed the pieces to shields and swords. Breakthru has defenders trying to move a special piece to the edge of the board. Thud, from a book series, uses an octagonal board with fewer defenders and many attackers.

Balance of play

For a long time, people thought some tafl games were unfair because the rules helped the defenders too much. This idea came from old rules for a game called tablut. But newer translations show that the real rules make the game more fair. In fact, the attackers now have a tiny bit of an advantage.

There are ways to make the game even fairer. For example, you can change the rules so the king can't fight, let the king escape to the corners of the board, or set up special places where the king can be captured. Some players also use special strategies, like taking turns to guess how many moves it will take to win. This helps decide who gets to be the king in a fair way. Another idea is to play two games in a row, switching sides each time, and see who wins faster.

In saga literature

Hnefatafl was written about in many old stories called sagas, such as Orkneyinga saga, Friðþjófs Saga, and the Saga of Hervör and Heidrek. These stories give us hints about how the game was played long ago. They show that board games were popular among people back then.

In one saga, a famous leader boasts about being very good at Tafl. In another, people talk about a game where the king’s pieces are red and the attackers are white. The stories also include tricky questions and answers about the game, helping us learn more about its rules and pieces. Even though these stories don’t tell us everything, they let us see how much people enjoyed playing these games together.

In archeological finds

People have found many old tafl game boards and pieces in places where warriors were buried. For example, a wooden board and a horn gaming piece were found in a ship burial at Gokstad in Norway. Twenty-two gaming pieces made of whalebone were also found in Orkney.

Some game pieces have been found in religious places. In 2018, a game board from the 8th century or earlier was found at the site of a later monastery in Scotland. In 2019, a small blue glass piece with white droplets on top was found on Lindisfarne, a place attacked by Vikings in 793 CE. This piece might have been used for a tafl game.

Tafl game boards and pieces have been made from many materials, including walrus ivory, bone, amber, wood, and glass. Many glass game pieces have been found in Birka, Sweden, and also in northern Ukraine and Russia.

Legacy

In 1981, a book called "The Viking Game" helped bring back interest in tafl games. This version was based on an old Sámi game called tablut, but with some new rules. It sparked more people to explore and adjust these games.

Today, tafl games are enjoyed in many places. In 2008, the World Quickplay Hnefatafl Championships began on the island of Fetlar in Shetland, where players have a short time to make each move. Since then, new rules like Copenhagen Hnefatafl have become popular. After the original rules of tablut were shared online between 2007 and 2013, the game grew in popularity, with a tournament held in England in 2017.

Now, tafl games can be played online on sites like Chess.com. The World Tafl Federation Hnefatafl Championship Tournament is hosted by Aage Nielsen’s site, which started in 1998. Another site launched in 2014 offers many tafl variants to play, including Copenhagen Hnefatafl and Tablut.

World Tafl Federation

In August 2011, a group called the 'World Tafl Federation' was created, with Tim Millar as Chairman and Adam Bartley as Vice Chairman. Since then, the World Tafl Federation has held yearly world championships for a special type of game called hnefatafl.

World Tafl Federation Champions

This is a list of the winners of the World Tafl Federation Championships: