Tablut

Tablut

This variant from Sápmi, is the best documented version.^[22] Carl Linnaeus recorded the rules and a drawing of the board in his journal during his 1732 expedition to Lapland. His description, in Latin, was incomplete, as he did not speak the Sami language of his hosts and described the game only from observing the players.^[23] The game was played on a 9×9 mat of embroidered reindeer hide.^[24] In his diary, Lachesis Lapponica, Linnaeus referred to the light (defending) pieces as "Swedes" and the dark (attacking) pieces as "Muscovites".^[25] What may have been the same game was still being played in the late 19th century, as described in P.A. Lindholm's Hos Lappbönder (1884).^[26]

^{Helmfrid 2005, pp. 10–11, discusses a set of intriguing yet ultimately puzzling riddles related in Hervarar Saga, referring to hnefatafl. Bayless 2005, pp. 15–16, suggests that several archaeological finds in Scandinavia reveal hnefatafl sets that included dice, and discusses controversy over whether the very name tawlbwrdd suggests the throwing of dice.}

1. Helmfrid 2005, p. 2
2. Helmfrid 2005, p. 3
3. Bell 1979, p. 78
4. Smith 1811, p. 56
5. According to Helmfrid, Lindholm (1884)states, "If there are not cards enough for everyone, it may happen that a few men sit down and play a sort of chess, where the pieces are called Russians and Swedes, and try to defeat each other. Here intense battles are fought, which easily can be observed on the players, who sometimes are so absorbed that they cannot see or hear anything else." Qtd in Helmfrid 2005, p. 5
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8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games#Tablut