Board game - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Eras Toggle Eras subsection 1.1 Ancient era 1.2 Golden era 1.3 Renaissance era 2 Regional history Toggle Regional history subsection 2.1 Europe 2.2 Americas 2.3 Asia 2.4 Africa 3 Luck, strategy, and diplomacy 4 Software 5 Market Toggle Market subsection 5.1 Hobby board games 6 Research 7 Categories Toggle Categories subsection 7.1 Historical development 7.2 Mechanics 7.3 Theme 7.4 Components 7.5 Age range 7.6 Player number 7.7 Promotion type 8 Glossary 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Toggle the table of contents Board game 78 languages العربية مصرى Azərbaycanca Български Banjar বাংলা Brezhoneg Bosanski Català کوردی Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara فارسی Suomi Võro Føroyskt Français Frysk 贛語 Kriyòl gwiyannen Galego Avañe'ẽ Hausa עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Hornjoserbsce Magyar Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Ido Íslenska Italiano 日本語 Patois ქართული Қазақша ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 Latina Lëtzebuergesch Limburgs Latviešu Македонски Bahasa Melayu नेपाल भाषा Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Polski Português Română Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Anarâškielâ Српски / srpski Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Tagalog Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt 吴语 粵語 中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikivoyage Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tabletop social game The board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages.[1] Young girls playing Alias in a library at Iisalmi, Finland, 2016 A board game is a type of tabletop game[2][3] that involves small objects (game pieces) that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] potentially including other components, e.g. dice.[6] The earliest known uses of the term "board game" are between the 1840s and 1850s.[7][4][9] While game boards are a necessary and sufficient condition of this genre, card games that do not use a standard deck of cards, as well as games that use neither cards nor a game board, are often colloquially included, with some referring to this genre generally as "table and board games" or simply "tabletop games".[2][3] Eras [edit] Further information: History of games Timeline of board game history, based on the Wikipedia articles Board Game, Hasbro, Board Game Cafe, Tabletop Simulator, and Monopoly as of 24 November 2024 Ancient era [edit] Board games have been played, traveled, and evolved in most cultures and societies throughout history.[11] They have been discovered in several archaeological sites, and there are several contenders for the oldest game, depending on the exact requirements applied and the accuracy of dating. Archaeological finds of game boards exist that date from as early as the Neolithic period, including, as of 2024, a total of 14 sites reporting 51 game boards, ranging from the early 7000s BC to the mid-6000s BC.[12][13][14][15] Some of the oldest discovered gaming pieces have been discovered in southwest Turkey, including a set of elaborate sculptured stones in sets of four, speculated to be designed for a chess-like game, which were created during the Bronze Age around 3000 BC.[16][17] Senet has been argued to be the oldest known board game in the world, with possible game board fragments (c. 3100 BC)[18] and undisputed pictorial representations (c. 2686 BC – c. 2613 BC)[19] having been found in ancient Egyptian Predynastic and First Dynasty burials dating as far back as 3500 BC.[20] However, while Senet was played for thousands of years, it fell out of fashion sometime after AD 400 during the Roman period;[19] the rules were never written down, therefore they are not decisively known.[21] Similarly, Mehen, also from ancient Egypt, is one of the oldest games dated with reasonable confidence, at c. 3000 BC – c. 2300 BC,[22][23] with some estimating it dates back to c. 3500 BC.[24] The rules, scoring system, and game pieces, however, are also unknown or speculative.[24][23] The Royal Game of Ur is estimated to have originated around 2500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia, with specimens found in royal tombs.[25][26][27] It has been claimed to be the oldest playable board game in the world, with well-defined game rules discovered written on a cuneiform tablet by a Babylonian astronomer in c. 177 BC – c. 176 BC.[28][29] Another game similar to the Royal Game of Ur was discovered in 1977 by the Italian Archaeological Mission in grave no. 731, a pseudo-catacomb grave at Shahr-i Sokhta, a UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site in Iran. This board game set, comprising 27 pieces and 4 different dice, dates to 2600 – 2400 BC. The set has been scientifically analyzed and a reconstruction has been proposed by researchers.[30] It has similarly been claimed to be the oldest complete and playable board game ever discovered.[31] An example of a game with highly uncertain age is mancala, which includes a broad family of board games with a core design of two rows of small circular divots or bowls carved into a surface. It has had numerous estimations of its generic age due to the many variants that have been discovered in different locations across Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia.[32] These are dated across many different periods at different sites, from c. 800 BC – c. 200 BC (Roman Settlements); to c. 2500 BC – c. 1500 BC (Egypt); and even c. 7000 BC – c. 5000 BC (Jordan). The latter is based on divots carved out of limestone in a Neolithic dwelling dated to c. 5870 BC ± 240 BC,[33][32][34] although this has been disputed.[35] Furthermore, when considering Neolithic period game board discoveries, caution has been given against considering these finds as representing the definitively earliest human game playing, as the absence of evidence of such games in earlier periods does not equate to evidence that no games were played.[36] Men Playing Board Games, from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript Mehen game with game stones, from Abydos, Egypt, 3000 BC, Neues Museum Painting in tomb of Egyptian queen Nefertari (1295 – 1255 BC) playing senet Golden era [edit] The 1880s–1920s were a board game epoch known as the Golden Age, a term coined by American art historian Margaret Hofer,[37] where the popularity of board games was boosted through mass production, making them cheaper and more readily available.[38]: 11  The most popular of the board games sold during this period was Monopoly (1935), with 500 million games played as of 1999.[39] Renaissance era [edit] The number of board games published by year (1944–2017), as listed on BoardGameGeek. Expansion sets for existing games are marked in orange. In the late 1990s, companies began producing more new games to serve a growing worldwide market.[40][41] The Settlers of Catan (1995) is often credited with popularising German-style board games outside of Europe and growing the hobbyist game market to a wider audience.[42] The early 21st century saw the emergence of a new "Golden Age" for board games called the "Board Game Renaissance".[40][43][44] This period of board games industry development, of which board games such as Carcassonne (2000) and Ticket to Ride (2004) were a major part, saw a shift away from the 20th-century domination by well-established standby Golden Era board games like Monopoly (1935) and Game of Life (1960).[45] Regional history [edit] Further information: History of games Europe [edit] Further information: Eurogame § History Board games have a long tradition in Europe. The oldest records of board gaming in Europe date back to Homer's Iliad (written in the 8th century BC), in which he mentions the Ancient Greek game of petteia.[46] This game of petteia would later evolve into the Roman game of ludus latrunculorum.[46] {{Cite journal|last=Asbury|first=Susan|date=Winter 2018|title=It's All a Game: The History of Board Games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan|url=https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/10-2-Book-review2.pdf|department=Book Reviews|journal=American Journal of Play|volume=10|issue=2|page=230|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711112435/https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/10-2-Book-review2.pdf|archive-date=11 July 2020|access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref>\n"},"2":{"wt":"'''Ireland'''\n:''[[Fidchell]]'' boards dating from the 10th century has been uncovered in Ireland,<ref>{{Cite book|first=Kenneth Hurlstone|last=Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkTUotRW8_AC&q=the+oldest+irish+tradition|title=The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Window on the Iron Age|date=28 February 2011|isbn=978-0-521-13493-4|page=23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=28 December 2024}} [https://ia600105.us.archive.org/1/items/hurlstone-2011-the-oldest-irish-tradition/Hurlstone%20%282011%29%20The%20Oldest%20Irish%20Tradition.pdf Alt URL]</ref> with the game said to date back to at least 144 AD.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harding|first=Timothy|date=2010|title='A Fenian pastime'? Early Irish board games and their identification with chess|journal=Irish Historical Studies|volume=37|issue=145|page=5|doi=10.1017/S0021121400000031|issn=0021-1214|jstor=20750042|hdl-access=free|hdl=2262/38847|s2cid=163144950}}</ref> \n"},"3":{"wt":"'''Scandinavia'''\n:The ancient Norse game of [[Tafl games|hnefatafl]] was developed sometime before 400 [[Anno Domini|AD]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schulte|first=Michael|title=Board games of the Vikings – From hnefatafl to chess|url=http://ojs.novus.no/index.php/MOM/article/download/1426/1411|page=5}}</ref> \n"},"4":{"wt":"'''United Kingdom'''\n:In the United Kingdom, the association of dice and cards with gambling led to all dice games except backgammon being treated as \"lotteries by dice\" in the Gaming Acts of [[Gaming Act 1710|1710]] and [[Gaming Act 1845|1845]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Neilson|first=W Bryce|title=Gaming history and Law|website=Gamesboard.org|url=https://www.gamesboard.org.uk/articles/gaming-law-bryce-neilson-aug-2020.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001082026/https://www.gamesboard.org.uk/articles/gaming-law-bryce-neilson-aug-2020.pdf|archive-date=1 October 2020|access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref> One of the most prolific publishers of board games of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was the English board game publisher [[John Wallis (publisher)|John Wallis]] and his sons (John Wallis Jr. and Edward Wallis).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Adam|first=Gottfried|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lb6ZEAAAQBAJ&dq=John+Wallis++publishers+of+board+games&pg=PA177|title=Thumb Bibles: The History of a Literary Genre|date=31 October 2022|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-52588-7|language=en}}</ref> The global popularisation of board games, with special themes and branding, coincided with the formation of the global dominance of the [[British Empire]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kentel|fi…