Board Games

Games In Early America these games helped children learn skills that they would need later in life as a farmers and parents. Games taught children how to aim and throw, how to solve problems and do things with their hands, and how to follow directions and rules. They also leaned to be fair, to wait their turn and to use their imaginations.

Board Games Some of the board games that settlers played had been around for centuries. Chess, Checkers, and backgammon are examples of old favorites, but many new games were also created in the 1800’s. Some helped players learn about history, geography, and science. Others taught children the value of working hard and behaving well.

Pick Up Sticks (jack Straws) Pick- Up Sticks, also known as Jackstraws, Jackstraws, Spilikins or Woodpile, is a popular game of skill played by both children and adults, with long round sticks or straws of wood. Jackstraws, the game’s most immediate predecessor was particularly popular during the colonial period in America. Jackstraws were originally made of ivory or bone. Later, when the game became a favorite among colonial children, they were made of wood. In the 20th Century, the ‘sticks’ were rounded for ease of use and Jackstraws became the game we now know as Pick Up Sticks.

One, Two, Buckle my shoe… The name pick-up sticks may have come from this children's nursery rhyme: One, two, buckle my shoe, Three, four, shut the door, Five, six, pick up sticks, Seven, eight, lay them straight, Nine, ten, a big fat hen."

Instructions for Pick-Up Sticks To begin the game, the first player drops the sticks in a pile. The first player then begins to “pick-up” the sticks one at a time without disturbing any other sticks. When one of the surrounding sticks is disturbed, the play passes to the next player and so on until the play returns to the starting player. The winner is declared by having the most number of sticks. Or the alternative method is to use the coloring to denote a point system.

Noughts and Crosses Tic Tac Toe was originally known as Noughts and Crosses and has been played in the United Kingdom for centuries. The same playing grid used for this game was also found etched into surfaces throughout the ancient Roman Empire, proving its popularity. Even though no playing pieces have been found that confirm this was the same game, the Roman game Terri Lapilli is thought to be an identical game.

To Play Tic Tac Toe Tic Tac Toe is played with two players that take turns placing their chosen piece (a Naught "o" or a Cross "x") on the game board, which is a 3-inch by 3-inch grid. The first player to complete a row either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally is the winner.

Dominoes The Inuit game of "Á ma zú a lát" is similar to the game of dominoes. The Eskimo name for dominoes means "standing upright side by side." The European game of dominoes seems to have been borrowed from the Chinese, but only the math elements were retained.

Dominoes origins China Dominoes may have originally been used as counters in dice games or in a method of fortune telling with dice. In the year 1120 A.D., the dominoes we know today existed in China and it is believed that dominoes descended from dice around this time.

Popularity of Dominoes The game of dominoes was a popular game during Colonial American times and continues to be a favorite American game. Dominoes are as popular with adults as they are with children. Many Irish pubs feature domino games and sponsor domino contests.

Dice Playing with dice dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. Dice are commonly associated with gambling but there are many other games that can be played for fun. Names for the forerunners of dice games were Astragali and knucklebones. A game of this type is depicted in a 3rd-century B.C. Roman sculpture featuring two girls close to the ground, one of them in the position to roll. Astragali are the knucklebones of a goat. Other knucklebones are the dried ankle bones of sheep and have four different sides, flat, concave, convex, and one sinuous or curvy side. The name "k'ab" is the Arabic word for "knucklebone" and "die." The game of jacks is also known as "knucklebones" because sheep bones were used to play a game which was the forerunner of jacks.

Colonial Dice Playing Colonial American children played with dice and wealthy families would have had ivory dice, while the "common folk" would have used wooden dice. Dice have been made of bone, antler, ivory, horn, wood and, later during the American Revolutionary War, soldiers made dice out of lead bullets and played dice games to pass the time. As with playing cards, dice had gambling issues that caused prohibitions and ordinances to be passed. In 1364 in St. Gallen Switzerland, an ordinance forbade dice games, allowed board games, but did not mention playing cards. In 1382 in Lille, France, an ordinance forbade various games, including dice and "quartes" (an early word for cards). In the same year in Barcelona, Spain, an ordinance prohibited dice and cards in just one home of a certain town official. Fifteen years later in Paris, France, a decree was issued forbidding working people to play dice and other gambling-type games on working days.

Cup and Dice Many dice games made use of a cup to shake the dice in, rather than in a hand. It seems that this method kept some players from "palming" loaded dice. Loaded dice are dice that have been tampered with to cause a predictable outcome. The "shaker cup" supposedly made dice playing a fair game. The dice could, however, still be "loaded" by a skilled cheat.

Hazard (Dice Game) Two dice are needed for this game. The player who begins the game is called the ‘caster.’ If the caster rolls a 2,3, or 12 on the first roll, the turn passes to the left. If, on the other hand, the first roll is a 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11, the caster continues to roll the dice until he either: Rolls the same number as the first roll Rolls a 7 and, in doing so loses his turn to the player to the left. The Game continues in this manner until all players have had a chance to be the caster. The winner is the player who has won the most rounds.

Dice Continued When playing dice-like games, values were given to each side of the knucklebones. The bones were tossed into the air and a player tried to have them land on the back of the hand or on the ground. Points were determined and scores kept. Eventually, six-sided cubed dice replaced the bones. A cube-shaped dotted die dated 600 B.C. from the Greek colony of Naucratis, Egypt, was discovered by Flinders Petrie.

Beetle (Dice Game) This game requires two dice, paper and pencil. Each player selects a number between one and six and writes it on top of his piece of paper. Each player in turn then throws the dice once. If he rolls the number previously selected, he may draw a section of the beetle on his paper. If he rolls a double of his selected number, he takes an additional turn. (First, draw the head, then the body, the eyes, the feelers and then the six legs one at a time.) The Player to get his number 12 times will have finished the beetle and is the winner.

Solitaire Board Solitaire originated in France, where it is said to have been invented by an imprisoned nobleman date unknown. Introduced in England in the late 1700’s the game soon gained worldwide popularity and remains a classic game for one player. The object of the game is to remove all the playing pieces from the board except one piece, which is left in the center of the board.

How to Play Solitaire Begin by placing all the playing pieces on the game board except for the center space. Remove playing pieces by jumping over another piece into a vacant spot. The playing pieces that is jumped is removed from the game board. Playing pieces may move or jump vertically or horizontally but not diagonally.

Draughts (Checkers) Draughts, one of the all-time favorite two-player board games, combines a Chess board of 64 black and white squares with the pieces of medieval backgammon and the moves of Alquerque. The rules are quite simple and can be learned in minutes.

Draughts origins Draughts originated about 1000 AD in France, where the pieces were called Ferses, after the name of the queen in medieval game of Chess. The game itself was known as Fierges. But when the name of the Chess queen was changed to Dames, each piece in Draughts also became known as a Dame and the game of Dames.

Two ways to play checkers `When a rules making it compulsory to capture an opponent’s piece became popular in France around 1535, two versions of the game emerged. The capturing game was known as Jeu force, and the non-capturing game or non-huffing game as Le Jeu Plaisant de Dames, later simplified to Plaisant. The capturing game made its way in the 16th Century to England, where it was called Draughts, and on to North America, where it is called Checkers.

Chess Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two players. Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from its predecessors and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older games of Indian and Persian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.

Chess continued The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight square. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.

Fox and Geese Fox and Geese, an intriguing contest between two unequal opponents, has been a favorite board game through out Europe since the Middle Ages. Brought to America both by Hessian mercenary troops and by the French troops under Lafayette’s command during the Revolutionary War, it remains a popular game today. Begin with 15 geese game pieces placed like the dark circles below and the fox like the white circle. Place the fox game piece near the center. The geese make the first move. The fox is free to move in any direction, to any adjacent vacant point. The geese can only move forward, left or right, but not backwards. The fox tries to capture a goose piece by jumping over it to the next adjacent vacant point. If the fox misses a chance to jump a goose, he is bluffed and must return on of the captured geese to the top of the board. The geese try to corner the fox so that he cannot move. To Win The fox wins if he captures enough geese so that they are unable to surround him. The geese win if they get 8 geese to the other end of the board without getting captured or if they corner the fox and he cannot move or jump.

Nine Men’s Morrice Nine Men's Morrice was a board game that could be played on a board, a piece of paper, or even drawn in the dirt. Simple markers of corn, stones, or beans could be used for play. Morrice is a game for two players. Each player has nine markers. Players may select coins, beans, or whatever they would like for their markers, so long as their markers are different from their opponent's.

Object of the Game Nine Men’s Morris The object of the game is to make rows of three markers on a line, and to prevent the other player from doing the same. The players take turns putting down one marker at a time, always placing them at the point where the lines cross or connect to each other. This means markers can be placed horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally at one of the board's four corners. Three markers in a straight line make a row, and if they are cleverly arranged, one may form a part of two rows. When all the markers have been placed on the board, the players may begin to move. Players take turns sliding one marker at a time along the lines, from one point to the next. The object is still to make rows by sliding the markers to different points on the board, and blocking the other player. Whenever one player makes a new row of three markers, he or she chooses one of the other player's markers, picks it up off the board, and lays it aside. If a player is reduced to only two markers left, he or she may give up the game as lost since three markers are always necessary to complete a row.

Tiddleywinks Players use a disk called a shooter to flip small disks called winks into a cup that sits in the middle of the playing area. The object of the game is to be the first player to sink all of his or her disks into the cup.