Welcome to Episode 9,
No, Not Like Monopoly
I’m Lisa Blank and this is How Did I Miss That?
Another confession…I play board games…like, a lot. My husband and our friends have weekly game nights, we go to board game conventions and we’re hosting one of our own this October, and I even co-host another podcast that’s all about gaming. Suffice to say, I’m addicted to the hobby and I love every minute of it.
We were at a local convention in January and purchased a very simple, wooden board game that was based on an ancient game found in Mesopotamia and played by the Ancient Sumerians. That got me thinking…where did this idea of board games come from, what games did people play in ancient times? I knew that games had been found in the tombs and pyramids of Egypt, but I’d never really learned anything about them. So there I went, down the rabbit hole of one of my favorite hobbies and here’s what I found.
Though it’s not known for absolute certain, many historians believe that Senet was the first ever board game…and a version of it is still played today. The earliest Senet boards were found in Egypt and have been dated as far back as 3500 BCE. The rules were never written down, but historians have pieced together the basic concept. It was a two-player game, played on a rectangular board, where you raced around an S-shaped path to reach the final square before your opponent. It’s believed that the game of Senet held cultural and religious significance because game boards were found entombed with the dead. I’d have a hard time deciding on my favorite board game to be buried with for all time.
It should come as no surprise that Checkers, Backgammon, and Chess are among the oldest games in the world. Checkers, or Draughts (drafts)as it’s sometimes called, came along first in approximately 3000 BCE in Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq. Backgammon was invented around the same time as Checkers in Ancient Persia, or modern-day Iran. And Chess, which originated in India or possibly China, dates back to around 600 AD.
Nine Men’s Morris was an interesting one! It’s unknown exactly when or where the game originated, but the best guesses are in Egypt around 1400 BCE due to finding a board carved into a roofing slab on the Temple of Kurna. It also became popular in Ancient Rome where they would carve the boards into buildings. When it spread through Europe, priests and monks took to playing the game. Nine Men’s Morris is still played today with mostly the same original rules.
The Royal Game of Ur is also still played today. It originated in Ancient Mesopotamia around 2600 BCE. And you can consider yourself in royal company when you play, because a version of the game was found in King Tut’s tomb.
Those Ancient Egyptian kings sure did love their board games! Anthropologists found a Mehen (maa hen) gameboard in King Peribsen’s tomb that was dated to around 2700 BCE.
The last one I’ll talk about is the game of Go. Yep, just Go. I actually saw a group of people playing this one at a local game shop a few weeks ago. I’d never seen the game and had to ask about it. Then, as you know I’m prone to do…I did some research. Go is dated to 2000 BCE and originated in China. The exact history of the game is unknown, but Chinese legend says that Emperor Yao, who reigned from 2356 to 2255 BCE, created Go in order to teach discipline, concentration, and balance to his son Danzhu. The current name of Go is actually attributed to Japan, though, where the game is widely popular. It’s played on a square board with lines similar to a Checkers board and with black and white pieces called stones. Players take turns placing their stone pieces with the goal of forming territories of vacant areas around the board and possibly capturing an opponent’s stones by surrounding them. It looked like fun and the next time I see those guys I’m going to ask for a tutorial.
I’m down to play just about anything. Whether it’s a game as old as time or a new one that just came out. Cards, dice, meeples, tiles, stones…it doesn’t matter to me. Bring it to the table with a good drink and I’m there…just not Monopoly.
If you want to join me, head over to 210GameCon.com to find out about our board game convention in San Antonio. And follow us on Facebook or Instagram so you know when we’ll be hosting game nights throughout the month. All the links are in the show notes for you. You can also check out my other podcast, GGWP: The Good Game. Well Played Podcast, available wherever you stream.
Thanks for listening! If you like what you’re hearing, please make sure to share this podcast with all your friends and neighbors. And don’t forget to click follow or subscribe. Then join me every Tuesday and Friday as I uncover another interesting tidbit of knowledge and wonder… how did I miss that?!
