Ancient board games
Πεσσοί Pessoi
The Greeks called their board games πεσσοί, "pebbles". Legend says Palamedes invented them to pass the time for the soldiers waiting before Troy. On Exekias' amphora Aias and Akhilleus have leaned their spears aside and are throwing the dice.
Two games are here: a race with a die and a capture game without one. Play against an opponent or against the computer.
Games
Πέντε γραμμαί
Pente grammai · five lines · race game with a die
Five parallel lines, five pieces each, one die. The first to bring every piece onto the holy line wins; a lone piece can be hit.
Play against the computer →
Π
Πόλις
Petteia / Polis · city · capture game without dice
The pieces are "dogs" (κύνες), the board a "city". You capture an enemy piece by trapping it between two of yours.
Coming soon
Sources
- Pollux, Onomastikon 9.97–98
- Stephen Kidd, "Pente Grammai and the 'Holy Line'", Board Game Studies Journal 11 (2017), 83–99
- Ulrich Schädler, "Pente grammai — the ancient Greek board game Five Lines", Proceedings of the Board Game Studies Colloquium XI (2008), 173–196