Hyena chase (or Hyena game, or Hyena) is a simple race game originating in North Africa. It features a spiral track, and players race their pieces along the spiral from the outside to the centre and back. The first player to finish wins the hyena, which also travels along the spiral. On the return journey to the outside, the hyena eats any of the players it passes.
The playing area is traditionally marked on the ground, but may be drawn on paper. It has a sequence of many circles arranged in a spiral, each representing a camp and the end of a day's journey. The first circle at the outside of the spiral is larger and represents a village, and the final circle at the centre of the spiral represents a well at an oasis. Each player owns a piece, representing a mother. The objective of the game is to travel from the village to the well, then be the first player to return to the village. There is also a piece to represent the hyena, which is unleashed by the winning player to jeopardise the return of the other mothers.
All pieces start at the village. The players move their mothers according to the roll of a die (traditionally pieces of stick were used). A player must throw a six to get their mother from the village onto the first circle. A player must throw the exact number to reach the well; if the number thrown is higher than the number of days to the well they must try again on their next turn. Once they reach the well the mother washes her clothes until the player rolls a six again. Then the mother starts the return journey to the village.
The first player to get their mother back to the village (an exact throw is not required) wins the game. For added entertainment, the winner is allowed to play the hyena. Again, a six must be thrown to release it from the village. The well must be reached by an exact throw and can only be left when a six is thrown. The hyena moves at twice the speed of the mothers (double the score of the die), and any mothers the hyena passes on the return journey are eaten and removed from the game.
Ludo is a strategy board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to the rolls of a single die. Like other cross and circle games, Ludo is derived from the Indian game Pachisi, but simpler. The game and its variations are popular in many countries and under various names.
Snakes and Ladders, known originally as Moksha Patam, is an ancient Indian board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played on a game board with numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to die rolls, from the start to the finish, helped by climbing ladders but hindered by falling down snakes.
Fanorona is a strategy board game for two players. The game is indigenous to Madagascar.
Kubb is a lawn game where the objective is to knock over wooden blocks (kubbs) by throwing wooden batons (kastpinnar) at them. Kubb can be described as a combination of bowling and horseshoes. Play takes place on a small rectangular playing field, known as a "pitch". "Kubbs" are placed at both ends of the pitch, and the "king", a larger wooden block, is placed in the middle of the pitch. Some rules vary from country to country and from region to region, but the ultimate objective of the game is to knock over the "kubbs" on the opposing side of the pitch, and then to knock over the "king", before the opponent does. Games can last from five minutes to well over an hour. The game can be played on a variety of surfaces such as grass, sand, concrete, snow, or even ice.
Pachisi is a cross and circle board game that originated in medieval India which has been described as the "national game of India". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A player's pieces move around the board based upon a throw of six or seven cowrie shells, with the number of shells resting with aperture upwards indicating the number of spaces to move.
Dodgeball is a team sport in which players on two teams try to throw balls and hit opponents, while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, catching a ball thrown by an opponent, or inducing an opponent to commit a violation, such as stepping outside the court.
Parqués is the Colombian version of a board game in the cross and circle family. The game is described as a "random thinking" game: the moves depend on the roll of the dice but players must consider possible strategies before executing their move. The objective of the game is to advance all the pieces to the end.
Chaupar, chopad or chaupad is a cross and circle board game very similar to pachisi, played in India. The board is made of wool or cloth, with wooden pawns and six cowry shells to be used to determine each player's move, although others distinguish chaupur from pachisi by the use of three four-sided long dice. Variations are played throughout India and some parts of Pakistan. It is similar in some ways to Pachisi, Parcheesi and Ludo. In most of the villages of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, this game is played by old persons.
Ashta-kashte is a race board game from Bengal akin to the Cross and Circle family for two to four players originating in India. Although there is no evidence for that, it is considered by some as the direct ancestor of Pachisi. It is played on a board with a 7-by-7 grid on it. It is similar to Chowka bhara, or to Ashtam changam pe where there is a 5-by-5 grid on the board.
Jungle or Dou Shou Qi is a modern Chinese board game with an obscure history. The game is played on a 7×9 board and is popular with children in the Far East. The game is also known as The Jungle Game, Children's Chess, Oriental Chess, and Animal Chess.
A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of football when the ball has exited the side of the field of play. It is governed by Law 15 of The Laws Of The Game.
Mensch ärgere Dich nicht is a German board game, developed by Josef Friedrich Schmidt in 1907/1908. Some 70 million copies have been sold since its introduction in 1914. It is played in Germany, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, and Iran.
Uckers is a board game for two to four players traditionally played in the Royal British Navy. It has spread to many of the other arms of the UK Armed Forces as well, including the Commonwealth Forces. It can now commonly be found in the Royal Marines, Army Air Corps, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Dutch Navy, and the Royal Air Force (RAF).
Agon is an strategy game invented by Anthony Peacock of London, and first published in 1842. It is a two player game played on a 6×6×6 hexagonal gameboard, and is notable for being the oldest known board game played on a board of hexagonal cells.
Bizingo is a two-player strategy board game created sometime in the 1850s in the United States. Two opposing armies on a triangular grid face off against one another. The game seems unrelated to any other, except perhaps to the traditional Zuni game Awithlaknakwe.
Zamma is a two-player abstract strategy game from Africa. It is especially played in North Africa. The game is similar to Alquerque and draughts. Board sizes vary, but they are square boards, such as 5x5 or 9x9 square grids with left and right diagonal lines running through several intersection points of the board. One could think of the 5x5 board as a standard Alquerque board, but with additional diagonal lines, and the 9x9 board as four standard Alquerque boards combined together, but no additional diagonal lines are added. The initial setup is also similar to Alquerque, where every space on the board is filled with each player's pieces except for the middle point of the board. Furthermore, each player's pieces are also set up on their respective half of the board. The game specifically resembles draughts in that pieces must move in the forward directions until they are crowned "Mullah" which is the equivalent of the king in draughts. The Mullah can move in any direction. In North Africa, the black pieces are referred to as men, and the white pieces as women. In the Sahara, short sticks represent the men, and camel dung represent the women.
Enchanted Forest is a board game designed by Alex Randolph and Michel Matschoss that requires players to remember the locations of fairytale treasures. The first edition of the game was published by Ravensburger in Germany in 1981 under the original name Sagaland.
Zohn Ahl is a roll-and-move board game played by the Kiowa Indians of North America. It is often cited as a typical representative of many similar Native American games. It is often equated with Tsoñä, also played by the Kiowa.
Duck, Duck, Goose is a traditional children's game often first learned in preschool or kindergarten. The game may be later adapted on the playground for early elementary students. The object of this game is to walk in a circle, tapping on each player's head until one is finally chosen; the chosen player must then chase the picker to avoid becoming the next picker.
Punjabis play a wide variety of sports and games, ranging from modern games such as hockey and cricket, to the more traditional games such as Kabaddi, Kushtian (wrestling) and Khuddo khoondi. There are over 100 traditional games and sports of Punjab.