Backgammon is the most widespread member of the large family of tables games, a type of board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. This family of games dates back nearly 5,000 years to Mesopotamia and Persia, whilst the earliest record of backgammon itself dates to the 17th century England, being descended from the 16th-century game of Irish.
Sternhalma, commonly known as Chinese checkers or Chinese chequers, is a strategy board game of German origin that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The game is a modern and simplified variation of the game Halma.
Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic. The game originated in ancient India as Moksha Patam, and was brought to the UK in the 1890s. 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.
Abalone is a two-player abstract strategy board game designed by Michel Lalet and Laurent Lévi in 1987. Players are represented by opposing black and white marbles on a hexagonal board with the objective of pushing six of the opponent's marbles off the edge of the board.
Connect Four is a two-player connection board game, in which the players choose a color and then take turns dropping colored tokens into a seven-column, six-row vertically suspended grid. The pieces fall straight down, occupying the lowest available space within the column. The objective of the game is to be the first to form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of four of one's own tokens. Connect Four is a solved game. The first player can always win by playing the right moves.
ZÈRTZ is the third game in the GIPF Project of seven abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations. It is impartial: since neither player owns on-board pieces, maintaining the initiative is of fundamental importance.
A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about 13 mm in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 mm to over 8 cm (3 in), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm (12 in) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called "taws", with larger taws being called "bottle washers" after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles, which were often collected for play. These toys can be used to make marble runs, a form of art, or they can be used in marble races.
Fields of Action is an abstract strategy board game for two players.
Pentago is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Tomas Flodén.
Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Three Rings Design. The player takes the role of a pirate, adventuring on the high seas and pillaging money from roaming enemy ships. The mechanics of Puzzle Pirates are driven by puzzles. For example, to effectively sail a ship, players must play puzzle games representing work at the sails for speed, pumping bilge water to remove it from the ship, and carpentry to fix any damage the ship may take.
Wahoo is a cross and circle board game similar to Parchisi that involves moving a set number of marbles around the board, trying to get them into the safety zone. The game is alleged to have originated in the Appalachian hills, but it is nearly identical to Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht, a German board game originating in 1907. Most boards are used by four to six players. Wahoo has been a popular game for decades. Even today, custom-made boards proliferate on eBay and game manufacturer Parker Brothers has sold their own version of the game, under the title Aggravation, for decades.
Aggravation is a board game for up to four players and later versions for up to six players, whose object is to be the first player to have all four playing pieces reach the player's home section of the board. The game's name comes from the action of capturing an opponent's piece by landing on its space, which is known as "aggravating". Captioned by one of the creators, Lois Elaine who did not always enjoy defeat.
Cherokee marbles, or five hole is a traditional game among the Cherokee people of the United States, in which players roll small stone balls between five shallow pits dug into a playing field. Today, the game is commonly played with billiard balls. The game may be played in individual or team play, and in this century, has been introduced into the curricula of students attending schools in the Cherokee Nation. There is also a national tournament held annually during the Cherokee National Holiday.
Agon is a 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.
Conspirateurs is a two- or four-player strategy board game said to have been invented in 18th-century France. Robert Charles Bell believes the game to date from after 1789, following the French Revolutionary Wars, "a period of feverish political activity with factions conspiring against each other".
Four Field Kono is an abstract strategy game from Korea. Each player attempts to capture the other player's pieces by jumping over their own piece and landing on the other player's piece. The game is not related or similar to another Korean game called Five Field Kono.
Schaper Toys, or W.H. Schaper Mfg. Co., Inc. as it was originally known, was a game and toy company founded in 1949 by William Herbert Schaper in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. "Herb" Schaper published a variety of games but was best known for having created the children's game, Cootie. In 1971, the company was sold to Kusan, Inc., and began operating as Schaper Toys, a subsidiary of Kusan, Inc. In 1986, Schaper Toys was acquired by Tyco Toys, which sold the rights to Cootie and three other of the company's best-known games to the Milton Bradley Company. These games are still being sold.
King of the Hill is a race game, where players try to be the first to get their marbles from the start to the top of the mountain. It was originally published by Schaper Toys in 1960. It was re-released in 2006 with slightly different rules by Winning Moves Games USA, but is no longer in production.
Stay Alive is a strategy game, where 2-4 players try to keep their marbles from falling through holes in the game board while trying to make their opponents' marbles fall through. It was originally published by Milton Bradley in 1971 and marketed in television and print advertising as "the ultimate survival game". Stay Alive was republished with a smaller board by Winning Moves Games USA in 2005. This game is no longer in production.
