what's the oldest board game?

Answer 1

Sorry! I was going to STOP answering some of these Puzzles, but something told me to GO. So I thought that perhaps I should GO for it. After all, LIFE's just a series of Chutes and Ladders. It's not like it's had a Checkered past. So I apologize ahead of time, if I'm Part Cheesy after all, my mind's all Scrabbled up. It's not like I had a Monopoly on answers.

Ok, here we go.

I was think of perhaps pin the cheerleader on the bleachers, but then it came to me while watching tv that there had to be older board games. After all, we had pirates long before cheerleaders, so I'm GOing to GO and say the oldest board game that I can think of is walk the plank, played by pirates for centuries.

Answer 2

Mancala

I'm sure that by now everyone has played Mancala in the AF Rec Room by now. And if you haven't, well, what are you waiting for? Get yourself over there, pronto! But not too fast, because maybe you'd like to know where this game came from. Where did it start? I know the answers, and if you'd to learn more, read on! Because this is not a game that City Hall and her little minons invented a couple of weeks ago... no, my friend, there's much more to it than that.

It is very probable that Mancala is the oldest game in the world. Why? Because you can play it with whatever happens to be around. Africans used to scoop out holes in the earth and use little pebbles as stones, rings in the sand with cowrie or other seashells, and what is usually used nowdays, a wooden board with seeds. There have also been boards made of clay and gold

Mancala is an Arabic word, and is a generic name for this family of games. It is the only ancient game that remains in the world that has an Arabic name. This could mean two things: (1) it originated in Arabia or (2) it has existed in this area of the world since ancient times (unlike in North America).

Mancala has been played for thousands of years in Africa and different parts of the Middle East. There are also versions in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Because there are literally thousands of tribes in Africa that play this game, each with small variations, it is hard to give this game a name. Some examples of names include Wari, Warri, Ware, Walle, Awari, Aware, Awaoley, Awele, Oware, Owari, and Wouri. You can also generalise the game by the region of the world it comes from. Some examples include Bao, Soro (Choro or Solo), Mangola, Gabata, Mulabalaba, Ayo and Sadeqa. Of all these varieties, Wari is the most popular around the world and is very similar to the version in Whyville.

There are many ways in which Mancala can vary. Any number of seeds can be placed in the pits at the beginning. Personally, I have placed 3, 4 and 5 in each at the beginning. My favourite is 5, although the game may tend to drag on at times. There are also boards that have a different number of "ranks" and laps.

While in some parts of the world this game originated solely for recreation, some regions, such as the West Indies have associated it with religion. It was often played in a house of mourning, because it was thought that the spirit of the dead would be amused until its body was buried. This is no longer the case, however. It is believed that the religious traditions originated with slaves, and these beliefs have since been forgotten or become obsolete.

When I was in grade 4, my class did a study of Ancient Egypt and one of the activities was to play Mancala with a partner. After playing the game several times, we made our own boards. If you'd like make you're own board all need are a few materials!

Answer 3

Senet is the oldest board game developed in Egypt in 3100 BC.

Answer 4

Senet has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively. Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed, having been pictured ina fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300-2700 BC)

Answer 5

Go is very old, much older than chess, but I believe Mancala (if you consider it a board game) is probably older, and apparently the oldest is something called Senet, a form of Backgammon.

Answer 6

Chess or Halma a.k.a. Chinese Checkers

Chess was played many centuries ago in China, India, and Persia. No one really knows for sure in which country it originated. Then, in the eighth century, armies of Arabs known as Moors invaded Persia. The Moors learned chess from the Persians. When the Moors later invaded Spain, the soldiers brought the game of chess with them. Soon the Spanish were playing chess, too. From Spain, chess quickly spread throughout all of Europe.

Chinese Checkers was invented in Germany in (1892) and it's an descendant from the game of Halma (1883). Chinese Checkers is not from China and it has nothing to do with the game Checkers.... It is neither related to the peg game 'Marble Solitaire' or 'Peg Solitaire'; who sometimes wrongly is called Chinese Checkers. For more information or to check my source please refer to the link I provided below.

Answer 7

Go and I think Backgammon are one of the oldest games that are still played in its original form.

Answer 8

Mankala, the Royal game of UR, and Go. All date backe to between 1500 and 2500 BC
Go to the link to learn more

Answer 9

crokinole board game

Answer 10

Check this out it has all knids of information on oldest board games. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game

Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. Some of these include:

Senet has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively [1]. Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed, having been pictured ina fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300-2700 BC) [2].
Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
The Royal Tombs of Ur contained, among others, the Royal Game of Ur. They were excavated by Leonard Woolley, but his books document little on the games found. Most of the games he excavated are now housed in the British Museum in London.
Buddha games list is the earliest known list of games.
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Timeline
3500 BC - Senet found in Predynastic Egyptian burials[1]; also depicted in the tomb of Merknera.
3000 BC - Mehen, board game from Predynastic Egypt, played with lion-shaped game pieces and marbles.
2560 BC - Board of the Royal Game of Ur (found at Ur Tombs)
2500 BC - Paintings of Senet and Han being played made in the tomb of Rashepes
2000 BC - Drawing in a tomb at Benihassan depicting two unknown board games being played (depicted in Falkner). It has been suggested that the second of these is Tau.
1500 BC - Liubo carved on slab of blue stone. Also painting of board game of Knossos[3].
1400 BC - Game boards including Alquerque, Three Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, and a possible Mancala board etched on the roof of the Kurna Temple. (Source: Fiske, and Bell)
200 BC - A Chinese Go board pre-dating 200 BC was found in 1954 in Wangdu County. This board is now in Beijing Historical Museum. [4].
116-27 BC - Marcus Terentius Varro's Lingua Latina X (II, par. 20) contains earliest known reference to latrunculi[5] (often confused with Ludus duodecim scriptorum, Ovid's game mentioned below).
79-8 BC - Liu Xiang's (劉向) Shuo yuan, contains earliest known reference to Xiangqi.
1 BC-8 AD - Ovid's Ars Amatoria contains earliest known reference to Ludus duodecim scriptorum and the smaller merels.
220-265 - Nard enters China under the name t'shu-p'u (Source: Hun Tsun Sii)
c.400 onwards - Tafl games played in Northern Europe.