Tafl game
A type of board game in which the contest is between two forces of unequal
number or strength. The earliest form Tafl (old Norse for "table") game,
known as Hnefa-Tafl ("King's Table")
originated in Scandinavia before AD 400 and was then
exported by the Vikings to Greenland, Iceland (where it is mentioned in
the Grettis Saga dating back to AD1300), Ireland,
England, Wales and as far east as the Ukraine. Several boards unearthed
in both Viking and Anglo-Saxon contexts, including the board found at the
Gokstad ship burial, have had Hnefa-Tafl on one side and Nine Men's Morris
on the other. Other and later variants of Tafl include Tabula (the medieval
ancestor of backgammon, introduced from
the French as Quatre and thus Kvatru-Tafl), Fox
and Geese (Ref-Skak, "Fox Chess", Hala-Tafl or Freys-Tafl),
Three Men's Morris (Hrę-Tafl, "Quick-Tafl"), and Nine
Men's Morris.
Related category
• GAMES
AND PUZZLES
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