Old games still worthy gaming choices

The great thing about lists is that they almost always inspire discussion, if not outright arguments.

So there are no doubt many who will think the lists the next three weeks are far off base, but that is fine, as long as they get readers thinking about great abstract strategy games, it’s a win.

This week I am looking back at games created prior to 1900, so they are games with longevity. People have been playing these games for more than a century, several for a number of centuries. To remain playable games after all the years suggests they have something ‘special’ which has kept it on tables.

This list was rather easy, at least the top few, based on the longevity.

The number one is perhaps the greatest abstract strategy game of all time, that being Go. The game dates back to sometime around the year 400 B.C., and the simplicity of movement and the depth of play, and the years it can take to be a master of Go, all speak to its greatness.

Chess, the standard variety most of us here play, Shogi and Xiangqi slot in next. As a trio of chess games the order would largely be what your cultural background is, and the particular game you played growing up.

International checkers rounds out the top-five as the best of the traditional checker games.

Bao is the mancala game I deem tops for the list.

A familiar game, often found at yard sales and thrift stores, Othello comes next. It is a game most of us will have played at some time.

A game of unequal forces, Hnefatafl is likely under-appreciated by many, but worthy of top-10.

Unheralded Bashni, a stacking checker game, and the more simplistic, yet classic Nine Men’s Morris, round out the top-10.

And that brings us to the final two for a ‘Golden Dozen’, the slots of a list which can usually be filled by a number of different games, although less given the more limited number surviving from pre-1900.

I settled on Salta, a game with a more benign approach to checkers with no captures, and Renju, creating a set of a Go board.

Just for those who think the list encompasses all the options, games such as Fanorona, boxes, Alquerque, Petteia, Surakarta and Yote were considered among others, but I made my above choices and stand by them.

If you are not familiar with the Golden Dozen, please take some time to explore them, and get a feel for why the games have stood the test-of-time.