The world's traditional games — many of them thousands of years old. Chess, Ludo, Snakes & Ladders and Backgammon all descend from ancient games that are still played in their original forms across South Asia, the Middle East and East Asia.
Chess (from Chaturanga)
Chess reached Europe from India via Persia — the game we call chess is Chaturanga, invented in India in the 6th century CE. The Sanskrit word means 'four divisions' — infantry, cavalry, elephants, chariots — which became...
ExploreLudo (from Pachisi)
Ludo is the simplified British colonial version of India's ancient Pachisi — a game the Mughal emperor Akbar reportedly played on a life-sized courtyard board at Fatehpur Sikri with dancing girls as the pieces. The full ...
ExploreSnakes & Ladders (from Moksha Patam)
Perhaps the oldest surviving folk board game — Moksha Patam or Gyan Chaupar was a 13th-century Indian teaching game where ladders represented virtues (faith, generosity) and snakes represented vices (greed, lust). Britis...
ExploreBackgammon (from Nard)
The oldest ancestor of backgammon is the Royal Game of Ur — 4,500 years old. The direct predecessor is Nard, invented in Sassanid Persia around 800 CE. Backgammon boards are one of the great Middle Eastern craft objects ...
ExploreGo (Weiqi)
Invented in China more than 2,500 years ago, Go is the world's oldest continuously played strategy game. Traditional boards are made from a single slab of kaya wood (or now, Hyuga kaya from Japan — 500+ year old trees). ...
ExploreMancala family (Ayo, Oware, Sungka, Bao, Congklak)
The mancala family is the great pit-and-seed game of the tropical Old World — probably the most widely played traditional board game in human history. Ayo in Nigeria, Oware in Ghana, Bao on the Swahili coast, Sungka in t...
ExploreKite flying traditions
The kite is over 2,000 years old — the earliest were Chinese silk-and-bamboo. Regional kite festivals continue: India's Uttarayan/Makar Sankranti (14 January) fills the Gujarat sky with fighter kites; Pakistan's Basant d...
ExploreSpinning-top games
Every folk culture has its spinning top game. In Mexico the trompo has organised tournaments. In Malaysia the gasing is a village sport where enormous tops (some 5+ kg) are wound and battled — kept spinning for hours. In...
ExploreMarbles (kancha, gilli, klicker)
The marbles tradition is worldwide and pre-industrial — clay marbles are found in Roman-era archaeological sites. Every language has words for the different shots and games: India's kancha, Germany's klicker, Britain's r...
ExploreTraditional collectibles (matchbox labels, cigarette cards, stamps)
Not all folk toys are objects to play with — some are objects to collect. Matchbox label collecting (phillumeny) has a serious Indian and European tradition. Cigarette cards were mass-market folk collectibles from the 18...
ExploreString games (cat's cradle)
The oldest recorded folk game — string figures were documented across Indigenous cultures before any contact between them: Inuit, Navajo, Maori, Yoruba, Torres Strait Islander, Polynesian, Andean, Sami. The English 'cat'...
ExploreTag & running games
Kabaddi (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan — now an international sport), kho-kho (India), tag (worldwide), gilli-danda (South Asian stick game), lagori (Indian seven-stone game). Traditional playground games that require litt...
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