In Eastern meditation practices they sometimes make use of mandala patterns which are meant to sustain inner concentration. Game patterns are, in essence, mandalas. Board games are a threshold between the real world and the world of the gods. Their geometrical and mathematical structure makes them part of the spiritual world, but they exist also in the world of humans. Thus, they transcend both worlds. That's why board games, especially the common morris patterns, have been carved and painted in many places, also on vertical surfaces where they cannot be played.
The great Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung regarded games as of the utmost importance to the sanity and well-being of men and their societies. "Civilisations at their most complete moments," he said, "always brought out in man his instinct to play and made it more inventive." He would point out how in ancient Greece games had a religious origin. "One of the most striking testimonies to the quality of the English spirit," he once said, "is the English love of sport and games in a classical sense and their genius for inventing games." (Cf.
There is a reverse of the medal. Games, especially in connection with gambling, can become the focus of an obsession that leads to ruinous consequences. The Russian chess master Chigorin, at old age, is said to have burnt his chess set, realizing how much valuable life had been wasted on it. Board games are a long-standing part of human culture. As long as we avoid being obsessed with them, board games are capable of fostering our character and intellectual abilities.
Indian War-games - traditional games from
India
Asian Leopard games - traditional hunt games from
Asia
Tablut - the game of the Viking sagas.
Hare games
- traditional European hunt games
Bear games
- hunt games from the roman era
Chinese Rebels
- an antique game from China
Subjugatio Rebellium
- a Chinese game (26 Rebels) NEW!
Fox and Geese - a classic! (Räv
och Gäss, (Rävspel))
Egyptian Siga
- the Mother of all board-games
Asalto - the
assault game (Belägring, Rävspel)
Monk and Water
- a tibetan game
Zamma - an archaic game from Africa
Frisian
draughts - a wild form of checkers (Frisisk dam)
Medieval Alquerque - Alquerque
according to modern research (Medeltida Alquerque)
Kharbaga - African checkers (Afrikanskt
damspel)
Italian Dama - Italian checkers with
privileged kings (italienskt damspel)
Italian Damone - an unconventional
checkers variant
(italiensk damone)
Dablot prejjesne - a Laplandish (Lappish)
boardgame (ett samiskt brädspel)
Dablo Daares - a boardgame from Lapland (ett
lappländskt brädspel)
Buga-shadara - a Tuvan folk game
Gala - a Danish Viking game
Choko - a
Gambian folk game
Liberian Queah - a Liberian folk game
Asian Tiger games - hunt games from Asia
Permainan-Tabal - between Alquerque and
Draughts
Ossetian Checkers - a variant from Ossetia
Tibetan Gundru - a traditional game from Tibet
Vertical
Order and Chaos
Halma variants - the peaceful game
Halatafl - a strategical Viking game
Damiano - a
new Checkers variant
Quint - a new game for the chess/checkers board (Kvint)
Quad - a challenging new alignment game (Fyra-i-rad)
HopQuad - a relative of Halma.
BattleHalma - a spiced up Halma (Slaghalma)
HexQuint - a new game for the hexagonal board
HopperDame - a strategical checkers variant
Bouncers - a different checkers variant.
BounceQuad
- simple and sophisticated.
Platonic Halma - very advanced Halma
Pythagoreic Halma - a relative of
Platonic Halma
I Ching - not a game, but a divinatory method
Motti
- a solitaire game from the 19th century.
Z-Pente - an
advanced five-in-a-row game.
Stratagemo
- king of battle games
Codebreaker
- solve the secret code
Neo-Checkers
- checkers on an enlarged board
