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| Board games were alrealy played in Scandinavia by the Vikings, but the playing rules of the board game we known today as "Tablut" were only recorded in the 18th century by Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus A Scandinavian board game Board games or Tafl games (Tafl is a word which means "table" in the Old Norse language) were a popular past-time in medieval Scandinavia. The Norse sagas do actually mention a board game called Hnefatafl and tell us that those who could play it well were highly regarded in society. Although none of those Viking sagas left us ever any description of the game rules, in 1732 Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus mentioned about a board game called "Tablut" that was still played in northern Scandinavia and wrote down some the playing rules. Thanks to Carl Linnaeus' description, today we can play a game which dates back from the Viking times. Playing instructions for Tablut Tablut is a board game for two players where two armies of unequal strength are confronted. The largest army, with dark pieces, is called Muscovites. The smaller army, with white pieces, is called Swedes. The object of the game for the Swedes is to bring their king to safety off to any of the four corner squares of the playing board, while the object of the game for the Muscovites is to capture the king of the Swedes before he scapes. The game ends when the king of the Swedes reaches a safe corner (Swedes win) or when the king of the Swedes is captured by the Muscovites (Muscovites win). There are several interpretations of Tablut playing rules, all of them very similar to another, this being to the fact that Carl Linnaeus' description of the game was not very extensive. It is also likely that there were many different versions of the game during it's time. The rules that follow are the rules of the Hnefatafl computer game programmed by Joseph Crowe that you can download for free at Scandinavica.com. The starting move in every new game is made by the Muscovites. All pieces can move horizontally or vertically along the board, like a chess rook does, as many spaces as wished as long as the moving spaces are free of other pieces, and bearing in mind that the game does not allow a piece to jump over another piece. Pieces can not move into the corner squares or into the king's throne, in the centre of the board, although they may cross over it. Only the king can stay over the corner squares and over the throne. Like in chess, you may capture an opponent's piece as part your strategy. A captured piece will be removed from the board. Rules for capturing an opponent's piece are:
To move a piece, click on it. The squares that piece can move to are highlighted - click on one of the highlighted squares and the piece will move there. Pieces that are captured are shown on the right pane underneath the text showing the player whose turn it currently is to move. The game ends when the king of the Swedes reaches a safe corner (Swedes win) or when the king of the Swedes is captured by the Muscovites (Muscovites win).
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