Backgammon/Tables Games rulebook

[jester]

Google Document Here

This is a draft document. I've amended it since (but that document is offline right now) but the writing is substantially the same. What I'm interested in finding out is: Does it make sense? Could you play the games I am describing in this booklet?

My plan is to make the booklet available free on the internet and to have copies to hand out with some backgammon boards I'm making and maybe sell copies for the printing cost (it can be useful to have a hard-copy on hand).

I had considered the booklet pretty complete up until about half an hour ago when I stumbled on a French website with links to 14th-15th century manuscripts in the BNF that describe more tables games and new game play mechanisms. So I'll be amending the document. Which I knew would happen when I finally track down a couple of Arabic sources I'm looking for, so no big deal.

[Jehan de Pelham]

Jester, we in the Compaignye du Chalis have played some variations of backgammon that look a lot like some of these. We will have to try them at Crossroads in Time this June! Thank you!

[jester]

Jester, we in the Compaignye du Chalis have played some variations of backgammon that look a lot like some of these. We will have to try them at Crossroads in Time this June! Thank you!

I'm about to double the size of the booklet with documented 14th century games (one of them called The English Game) and plan to bring a copy and some backgammon boards with me. Looking forward to it.

[Halbrust]

Tagging in so I can see the updated version when it's finished.

[jester]

Tagging in so I can see the updated version when it's finished.

Any criticisms or suggestions? The modern version of this is meant to be very simple and clear. I want people to pick this up, pick a game that looks interesting, and start playing within one minute.

[robstout]

ooh. I'm looking forward to reading this. I'm trying to get into period games more.

Robert The Stout

[James B.]

Now I want to make a game table, thanks man <sarcasm>

[Jehan de Pelham]

James, you totally should, because it broadens your medieval life and provides something to do. Getting some replica medieval coinage and gambling with it adds to the flavor as well.

[jester]

Quality control, aka my lovely wife, insisted upon some changes. I re-drew the example boards to make them easier to read (square rather than triangular points, thinner lines, actual black pieces rather than the confusing crosses, added arrows to indicate direction of play). I re-wrote the rules to take advantage of the better drawings (less wordy now). I chopped the intro rather heavily. I added in the additional sources and added the additional games that came from those sources.

I'm on the fence about including Mahbousa (the Gul Bara and Plakoto variants). They aren't documented in period and the fact that they are the most popular non-backgammon tables games in Egypt and the Mediterranean Middle East means nothing at all. I wish the Islamic world had done more than castigate tables games and use them as prima facie evidence that their scandalous poem/story is dealing with a scandalous person.

Need to finish formatting for the booklet format and I'll be done and can turn my full attention to making the tables themselves.

[James B.]

James, you totally should, because it broadens your medieval life and provides something to do. Getting some replica medieval coinage and gambling with it adds to the flavor as well.

LOL I have 5 wood working projects going in my shop right now on top of a dozen leather and clothing items. But at some point I will make one.

[jester]

This has been a very interesting little project. It really ballooned out of proportion to what I intended. I was just throwing together some rules for myself and then I thought I'd put them into a little handout that I could give people and then I started finding other resources and reading those and trying to put the rules together.... It's all Jehan's fault. (No, really. He asked about the rules a few years back and that's when I started looking into this. And I wouldn't have paid it any attention if his knight hadn't been partly responsible for dragging me into the 14th Century. I was a proper generi-celt stick-jock before I encountered that pair.)

But some of the info has been fascinating. I knew about using three dice instead of two, but I didn't know about 'phantom' dice and I'd never heard of using declared dice. Some of the tables problems are riddles that demand structured logical thinking that's almost akin to computer programming. And the history is fascinating. You've got the Persians claiming they invented the game at a time when the game was both wildly popular and very disparaged. The Spanish appear to re-invent aspects of the game and tie it to Rome in an apparent attempt to 'remove' the Islamic influences of the game. And there's evidence for the game being played in 12th Century China, pretty much in the modern form.

What do I do for fun? I bang my head against brick walls... I mean I research aspects of life in the middle ages.

[jester]

As there is always room for improvement no project is ever finished.

For a given value of 'finished', however, this one is done. I test printed the booklet last night, made some minor corrections this morning, and called it done. For now. I've got a bunch of upgrades in mind.

I'll post the PDF online tonight and let y'all know where it is.

[jester]

PDF File here

[Jehan de Pelham]

Now you must come to the Crossroads and teach us...

[David]

Do you have any interest in later period tables games? Some years ago, I did reconstructions of a few Elizabethan period games using the rules described in Cotton's Compleate Gamester and Francis Willughby's A Volume of Plaies (both Restoration period, but the games are attested to earlier). Shoot me a PM with an email address if you are.

[Hrolfr]

I have until March 15th to make and learn a couple of these. There is an event "It's all fun and games" coming up!

[jester]

Do you have any interest in later period tables games? Some years ago, I did reconstructions of a few Elizabethan period games using the rules described in Cotton's Compleate Gamester and Francis Willughby's A Volume of Plaies (both Restoration period, but the games are attested to earlier). Shoot me a PM with an email address if you are.

A little, yes. But I've been working from original sources because I intend to sell some of these booklets at my little shop. I'd feel wrong about including your work without compensating you.

[jester]

I have until March 15th to make and learn a couple of these. There is an event "It's all fun and games" coming up!

I suggest Emperador/Ludus Angloricum. That's a simple and fun game to play and it spans a lot of cultures. Pareia de Entrada is another good one that fits the bill.

[Hrolfr]

I have until March 15th to make and learn a couple of these. There is an event "It's all fun and games" coming up!

I suggest Emperador/Ludus Angloricum. That's a simple and fun game to play and it spans a lot of cultures. Pareia de Entrada is another good one that fits the bill.

Is there a downloadable PDF for this (with compensation, of course!) ?

[jester]

See link above. I'll charge people printing costs if they want me to give them a paper copy, but they can have the info for free and print their own copy.

[David]

Do you have any interest in later period tables games? Some years ago, I did reconstructions of a few Elizabethan period games using the rules described in Cotton's Compleate Gamester and Francis Willughby's A Volume of Plaies (both Restoration period, but the games are attested to earlier). Shoot me a PM with an email address if you are.

A little, yes. But I've been working from original sources because I intend to sell some of these booklets at my little shop. I'd feel wrong about including your work without compensating you.

No worries, just offering. Someday I might get around to republishing the book they were in myself.