Hnefatafl: Ancient Viking Board Game “King’s Table” Popular In Medieval Scandinavia

MessageToEagle.com – Hnefatafl or tafl was an ancient Viking board game that became very popular in medieval Scandinavia. The board game was played by the Vikings as early as 400 A.D. Hnefatafl was a war strategy game. The name means literally “King’s Table” and although no description of the rules of the Hnefatafl exist, we know the game resembled chess, at least to some extent.

The king’s objective was to escape to the board’s periphery or corners, while the greater force’s objective was to capture him. The attacking force has the natural advantage at the start of each game, likely indicating an important cultural aspect by mimicking the success of Viking raids.

Vikings brought the board game to the lands they conquered and eventually the Hnefatafl became popular in other countries such as Ireland, Britain, Wales, and Iceland. Archaeological discoveries reveal the game was even popular in Ukraine.

In the ancient world, board games were as popular as they are today. Board games were very common in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and other parts of the world.

The Royal Game Of Ur, played in Mesopotamia is least 4,400 years old! It is widely considered to be one of the oldest game boards ever discovered. Board games such as for example Senet were very common in ancient Egypt and people from all levels of society played them

The Vikings did not differ from other ancient civilizations. They too enjoyed board games.

For quite some time very little was known about the Viking board game. Hnefatafl was mentioned in several of the medieval sagas, including Orkneyinga saga, Friðþjófs saga, Hervarar saga, and others.

The earliest mention of the game appears in Vôluspa 60:

“Then in the grass the golden taeflor (“table-men”),

the far-famed ones, will be found again,

which they had owned in older days.”[8]

Hnefatafl was played by both men and women. The Viking board is depicted on runstones.

One runestone from Ockelbo, Sweden, shows two men balancing a board game on their knees. The image reflects the saga references where arguments over the game frequently cause one or both players to leap to their feet, upsetting the tafl-board and scattering the pieces.

See also:

Mystery Of The Beautiful Viking Uig Chessmen Found On The Isle Of Lewis, Scotland

Ancient Egyptian Toys And Games In Focus

Royal Game Of Ur – One Of The Oldest Game Boards Discovered

Runes: Facts And History About Odin’s Secret Language

Fragments of actual game boards have been excavated. One board discovered on the Viking ship Gokstad has a 15 × 15 ruled board on one side for tafl, and what appears to be a nine-men-morris board (O.N. mylta, “mills”) on the reverse side.

Hnefatafl was popular for a long time. In the 11th century as chess grew in popularity the magnificent ancient Viking board game became more or less forgotten. Only people living in remote areas played it.

Hnefatafl was last recorded as being played in Wales in 1587 and in Lappland in 1723.

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