---

Ancient Board Games and Solitaire Game From Around the World
Volumne One

Copyright © July 1, 2011 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

---

If you CLICK on the picture on the right then you will be taken to the Amazon web page that features this book.

ISBN: 978-0-9837933-3-5
Type of Book: Paperback
Book Size: 8.5 inches by 11 inches
Number of Pages: 60
Number of Full Color Game Board Illustrations: 37
Amazon Price: $9.95

Note: Five of my books are currently available on Amazon as one of their 4-for-3 promotions.
If you buy four of any of Amazon's special books then you will receive the lowest-priced book FREE.
Each of my following five books are available on Amazon as four for the price of three:

1. Grandpappy's Recipes for Hard Times.
   
2. Ancient Board Games and Solitaire Games From Around the World.
   
3. Ancient Board Games and Solitaire Games From Around the World: Volume Two.
   
4. The Four Pillars of Prosperity: Governments, Businesses, Religions, and Banks.
   
5. Grandpappy's Christian Poems.
   

This means you could purchase any combination of the above books, or any of Amazon's other 4-for-3 books, and the lowest-priced book would be free.
You do not need to buy four different titles -- you may buy two or more of any one title if you wish.
If your order is $25 or more then this would also qualify you for Free Shipping for all four books.

Note: This book is eligible for Free Shipping if your total Amazon order is $25.00 or more. However, you must choose the Free Shipping option that will appear on your final checkout screen before you transmit your order. If you do not click on Free Shipping then Amazon will charge you a shipping fee for this book.

---

Book Description on Amazon.com

This book contains a huge collection of very challenging and entertaining board games from around the world, such as Japan, Egypt, Korea, Scandinavia, Iceland, France, Africa, Italy, England, Denmark, Greece, Arabia, New Zealand, Spain, and China.

Some of these games have been around for several thousand years and they have been played by individuals in many different parts of the world who speak a variety of different languages. Because of the translation issues with specific words in different languages, some of the games do sometimes have slightly different rules depending on which continent the game is currently being played. The instructions that appear in this book are the most commonly agreed upon rules for each individual game. However, some of the games do have interesting variations, and when appropriate, those variations are also described.

The book contains full color full size game boards on pages that are 8.5 inches by 11 inches.

This book does not include any playing pieces. You will need to furnish your own playing pieces. You may use the playing pieces from one of your conventional board games, or you may use buttons of two different colors, or you may use small coins, such as pennies, nickels, or dimes.

---

Preface to
Ancient Board Games and Solitaire Games From Around the World

Children are very good at entertaining themselves. For example, they might play tag or hide-and-go-seek. These games do not cost anything. However, these types of games are relatively noisy and they do consume a lot of human energy (calories). Therefore it would probably be a good idea if your children could sometimes entertain themselves in a less active, less noisy manner. This would also provide them with a change of pace so they could switch from a game that requires physical skills to a game that requires intellectual skills, such as board games.

Some board games require an investment in the game itself, such as Monopoly, or Life, or Candy Land. If you already have these types of board games then you already know that your family enjoys playing board games.

However, almost everyone enjoys variety. The games presented in this book fit into the broad category of games known as board games. Some of them have been around for several thousand years. But most of them have been forgotten because most game manufacturers prefer to produce and sell their own copyrighted games since those games yield a higher profit margin than a public domain game.

I suggest you play the games in this book with your children on a periodic basis to help your family bond together and to reinforce the fact that you find these games to be intellectually stimulating and challenging. Children are usually more eager to play "adult" type games than purely children games. Although most of the games are deceptively simple in appearance, and they have a minimum number of rules, and they are easy to learn how to play, each game also has a unique set of multiple strategies for offense and defense. If you do not intentionally let your children win too often then your children will learn that there is more to the game than they currently understand and they will try to figure out your strategy for winning the game. This will help them to become better problem solvers later in their own lives.

Some of the games that are described in this book have been around for several thousand years and they have been played by individuals in many different parts of the world who speak a variety of different languages. Because of the translation issues with specific words in different languages, the games do sometimes have slightly different rules depending on which continent the game is currently being played. The instructions that appear in this book are the most commonly agreed upon rules for each individual game. However, some of the games do have interesting variations and when appropriate those variations are also described.

---

Table of Contents

All the games in this book can be downloaded for free from my web site by clicking here.

Game Pieces	1
Basic Game Rules	2
Which Player Gets Each Color and Which Player Goes First?	3
Achi (Africa)	4
Horseshoe (China)	5
Tac Tix (Denmark in the 1940s)	6
Fox and Geese (Iceland before 1300 A.D.)	8
Ovid's Game (Before 8 A.D. when Jesus was a boy)	10
Four Field Kono (Korea)	11
Seega (Egypt before 1324 B.C.)	12
Derrah (Nigeria, Africa)	15
El-Quirkat (Arabia before 1400 B.C.) or Alquerque (Spain)	16
Chinese Checkers (Boston, Massachusetts in 1883 or 1884)	18
Checkers or Draughts (France around 1100 A.D.)	20
Checker Solitaire and Diamond Chinese Checkers	22
Triangular Checkers and The Fox and the Hounds	23
Nine Men's Morris (Egypt before 1400 B.C.)	24
Mu Torere (New Zealand)	26
Gomoku (Japan between 794 to 1185 A.D.)	28
Dai Hasami Shogi (Japan)	30
Petteia (Greece before 360 B.C.)	32
Latrunculi (Rome before 27 B.C.)	34
Hnefatafl, The Viking Game (Scandinavia before 400 A.D.)	36
Go (Japan) or Bakuk (Korea) or Wei Ch'i (China before 2258 B.C.)	39
Pyramid Solitaire	45
Square Solitaire and Nine Men Solitaire (United States in early 1900s)	46
Hexagon Solitaire	47
Six Men Solitaire or Leap Frog (early 1900s)	48
Eight Men Solitaire	48
Sixteen Men Solitaire or Sixteen Puzzle or Fore and Aft Puzzle (England in the 1800s)	48
Square Four Corner Solitaire (1800s)	49
Eight Point Star Solitaire	49
French Solitaire (France in 1600s)	50
English Solitaire	52
Solutions to Some of the Solitaire Games	54
Index	55
About the Author	56

Click here and you will be taken to the Amazon web page that features this book.

---