In today's Claire Chats, I talk about indoor games that were enjoyed during the medieval and Tudor periods.
Game instructions, more games and further reading
- Glückhaus, House of Fortune or Lucky Pig - See http://www.coht.org/resources/Gluckhaus.pdf for instructions and a board template.
- Niddy Noddy card game for children - see http://www.lscacamp.org/portals/0/medieval%20games%20and%20recreation.pdf
- Piquet (Cent) card game - see http://www.lscacamp.org/portals/0/medieval%20games%20and%20recreation.pdf for instructions.
- Primiera/Prime/Primero - See http://web.archive.org/web/20050208060221/http://www.elizabethangeek.com/wiki/PrimeroRules and http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-primero.html for rules.
- Fox and Geese board game - See http://www.exeter.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=16578&p=0 for board template, counters and instructions, or http://www.auntannie.com/GamesToMake/FoxGeese/ for a craft activity to make a roll-up game board.
- Nine Men's Morris - See http://www.historyisfun.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AnnasAdventures_NineMensMorris.pdf for instructions and board template.
- More medieval and Tudor games can be found at http://www.lscacamp.org/portals/0/medieval%20games%20and%20recreation.pdf and http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-rules.html
- Medieval Celebrations: Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Spectacular Feasts, Parties, Weddings, and Renaissance Fairs by Daniel Diehl and Mark P. Donnelly has a section on games.
The following photos are from the Mary Rose website - http://www.maryrose.org/ and are the board games I mentioned.
Backgammon board found on Mary Rose
Barrel Lid featuring the game boards for ‘Nine Men’s Morris’ (left) and ‘Tables’ (right), from Mary Rose
Don’t know if this is actually a real game or not. But in the 1970’s series of Henry V111 (with the fabulous Keith Michell playing Henry) In Jane Seymour’s Episode when he goes to Janes’s family home, he plays a card game called Pope July.
Hi Lorna, check out this page… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Julius_(card_game)
Thank you Tim.
In that series, one of my very favorite scenes is Princess Mary (I refuse to use “Lady”) beating her dysfuctional father at backgammon.