“Many of the first board games appear to have been diplomatic gifts to signify status,” co-author Mark Hall told Discovery News. “We have early examples of quite splendid playing pieces ...

In northwest Europe, meanwhile, the Viking game ... Pieces that landed in square 27’s “waters of chaos,” for example, were sent all the way back to square 15—or removed from the board ...

As further proof of that last one, Turkish archeologists have unearthed what they think are the oldest board game tokens ever ... Archeologists estimate the pieces to be from 3,100–2,900 BCE ...

These sit on a main board which holds some of the tile stacks and are used to track player orders. At game ... extra pieces for higher player counts, and tiny wooden markers for the resource ...

Unfortunately, the archaeologists have yet to determine the rules of the ancient board game, but based on the pieces, the game has a central theme revolving around the number four. Matt Clark is a ...

Catan, a game about collecting and using resources such ... fuel power plant, for example, the level of greenhouse gasses in the game increases — indicated on the board itself with a little ...

It fundamentally changed the board game industry, with dozens of spinoffs and new editions, including electronic versions. Ultimately, through a set of game mechanics that motivates resource ...

In 1901, on an excavation trip to Crete, British archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed items he believed belonged to a royal game dating back millennia: a board fashioned out of ivory, gold, silver ...