The Game of Twenty Squares (The Royal Game of Ur)
The sublime game of Go (Wei Qi)
The Chess Family (International Chess, Chinese Chess, Shogi)
The Tafl family (Tablut + Fox and Geese)
Nine Men's Morris (Mill, Merels)
The Alquerque Family (Draughts, Checkers, Fanorona)
Pachisi, the National Game of India (Parcheesi, Ludo)
The Mystical game of Moksha-Patamu (Snakes and Ladders)
Halma was invented about 1880 and Chinese Checkers is just a modern Western version of Halma popular in the 1920's. (But rules were made to be broken).
Reversi, played on a Draughts board was invented in 1888.
Links
- You can buy many historical board games, compendia and other quality board games from Masters Games.
- Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors (formerly the American Game Collectors Association).
- Board Game Studies representing serious study at Leiden University by scholars like Dr. Ulrich Schaedler and Alex de Voogt. They also publish a journal packed with useful info.