Daldos European game from Viking to Rus

Daldos

What Type of game is it,
How to play, 
Where and when it was played,  
& my theories on it. 

Part of My Mary Rose Project
Marilyn Strawberry Holt 
known in the SCA as THL Mwynwen Ysginidd  

Denmark and Norway share a game called Daldos or Daldosa and have relative variations played as far north as Lappland. This game has evidence of being a coastal town game played today in the northern area of Europe. (Jaeren,Thy, Mors, Fano, Bornholm)

This is a racing game that has direct capture, it is played with a pair of 4-sided dice. It could also be called a running fight game. somewhere between a racing game and a capture game.

For years this style of game was only believed to have been played in the Arab-Muslim world. These games form a group with many variations, known under various names from West Africa to India - tab,taba,tab wa-dukk in the Middle East; sig, sik, sir, siki, in North Africa- sig wa-duqqan 

As with most all games from history, the rules are oral traditions rarely written down rules exist. that idea is far more modern. The other thing is that playing more than one game on any board is also a common thing.  Looking at a chess/checker board and you understand what this means. 

Where then did these rules we use come from. In the case of this game, it was found to still be played in 2 tiny regions in Denmark and Norway. Further, a section of a Manuscript dating from around 13c that is in the Trinity College Library contains a drawing of the game besides 2 chess boards an alquerque, and a nine-man morris board. 

Historically The Board & Game

 The board will have 3 rows of spaces with the center row having one more space than the outer rows. the number of spaces can be 11,to16 spaces for the 2 outside rows The board I have provided has 13 outside places and is based on the board found on the Mary Rose Ship Wreck

The Playing Pieces 

Playing pieces should be able to be at rest and then be changed to being active. if using a glass blob then the piece would start flat side up so that it can be turned when it is activated. It is a wood piece then it has to have a front face that can be turned from at rest to active. you can use 2 sets of coins such as Pennies and Nickles, then start them as tail up and flip them over as they become active.

Dice or Dal

2 four-sided random generators are needed, you can use 2 knuckle bones and count the one as the Dal.

Further, while the construction materials and shape of the random generator are different, these nordic games share extreme similarities to some games in Algeria and Somalia.

The collection of boards found that Daldos can be played on have been found in many places. 

 

How to play

Daldos: The Rules How to play

 

The board is 3 rows. The middle row has 14 spaces, the 2 outside (home) rows have 13 each.

 

Before the game begins, 26 playing pieces are placed on the outside rows, one set of 13 for each player. The middle row is vacant. The two sets of pieces (men) are made in different shapes or colors. The pieces are placed with the flat sides facing across from one another.

 

Two 4-sided dice are needed to play the game. The sides are marked II, III, IIII, and A or X for the #1 (also called “dal”). The sum of two opposite sides is 4 or 6, not 5.

The four sides are rectangular or oblong.

 

To start the players throw two dice in turn. The higher throw starts.

 

Dalling:

 

Fig. 1 shows the direction of movement for one player’s men. The player with the triangle pieces moves from left to right into the middle row at the stern (the flat end of the board). When a man has traveled to the bow (the pointed end of the middle row) it moves into the opponent’s home row, and through that row towards the stern. Then it reenters the middle row and moves to the bow again to repeat the loop, never returning to the player’s home row.

 

The half-circle pieces move right to left in their home row, then follow the same pattern as the triangle pieces moving continuously through the center and opposing lines but never returning to their home row.

 

A game piece cannot go into play before it has been turned parallel to its row and moved one space. All pieces must be activated in this way, one by one from stern to bow.

 

A “dal” can be used either to move an already activated man anywhere on the board or to activate an inactivated man.

 

A turn is lost if the player's initial throw doesn’t result in at least one “dal”.

 

A throw can be used to move either one or two men. When only one man is moved, the results on the dice must be used separately (as in Backgammon).

 

A player’s piece may not jump their own piece but may jump over pieces belonging to their opponent.

 

If a throw enables a player to land their piece in a space occupied by their opponent’s piece, the latter is dead and taken off the board. A piece moving through the opponent’s home row can kill as many pieces, activated or not, as the dice allow.

 

If a player can only use one of their die because of gridlock when this is an agreed-upon rule set, the other move is forfeited. This also would negate a roll earned by having rolled double “dal”.

 

Additional or Optional Rule Variants:

 

Players’ pieces can jump over their own pieces, but not the opponent’s pieces.

 

Players’ pieces may jump any pieces, theirs or their opponent’s.

 

A “dal” can be used to activate one of the player’s pieces OR move an already active piece one space.

 

When activating a piece, a player only turns their piece to the active position but does not move it. (This rule goes well with being able to jump your own pieces because you can use it to activate your pieces in any order.)

 

On a roll of a double “dal” the player has an extra throw.

Historically The Board & Game

 The board will have 3 rows of spaces with the center row having one more space than the outer rows. the number of spaces can be 11,to16 spaces for the 2 outside rows The board I have provided has 13 outside places and is based on the board found on the Mary Rose Ship Wreck

The Playing Pieces 

Playing pieces should be able to be at rest and then be changed to being active. if using a glass blob then the piece would start flat side up so that it can be turned when it is activated. It is a wood piece then it has to have a front face that can be turned from at rest to active. you can use 2 sets of coins such as Pennies and Nickles, then start them as tail up and flip them over as they become active.

Dice or Dal

2 four-sided random generators are needed, you can use 2 knuckle bones and count the one as the Dal.

Further, while the construction materials and shape of the random generator are different, these nordic games share extreme similarities to some games in Algeria and Somalia.

The collection of boards found that Daldos can be played on has been found in many places. 

 

For your covinous, I have copied St Thomas guild's link and information for ease of reading but it is their research that helped with this.  

https://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-medieval-ship-game.html

Monday, 26 February 2018

In medieval Europe several game boards have been found that could be boards for Daldøsa or tâb-like games. Two game boards in ship-form were found in medieval Novgorod, Russia, dating from the 13th and 14th century, which have 17 and 15 lines inscribed, respectively. Also a presumed board was found in Newport, Wales, in an excavated 15th century ship (1446-1468) with 11 lines. More game boards were found inscribed in stone at some British church sites, such as Lincoln Cathedral. A slightly later dated board was found on a barrel lid on board the Mary Rose, a Tudor warship that sank in 1545. This board has 13 lines, with an extra point along the central line. Finally, a mysterious games-board representing such a game was drawn in a manuscript dating from the 13th century. The manuscript belonged to a monastery in Cerne, UK but is now in the Trinity College Library in Cambridge, UK  (MS O 2.45; folio 2v). Likely these European tâb games were imported by Viking merchants or mercenaries from the Middle East and further spread during their conquests to the England. Interestingly, also the Libre de los Juegos of Alphonso X the Wise (1283) does contain an elimination game along a line. In the game of astronomical tables, seven players move their pieces along a circular line by dice throw, until one is left.

 

14th century games-board made from spruce. The other side holds a nine men morris board. Novgorod, Russia. Image from the book Wood use in medieval Novgorod by M. Brisbane.                             

 

The games board above dating from the 14th century. It has two rows of 14 columns, or 15 lines crossed by 3. a visit to the re-enactors of Aisling 1167 with their huge collection and knowledge of medieval games, revealed what this game probably was: a tâb-like game, of which some ship-formed variants still are played in parts of Norway, Denmark and Finland (as Daldøs, Daldøsa and Sáhkku, respectively). The tâb game has its origin in the near east and Africa. It was already played in Egypt during the thirteenth century BC. In medieval times (1267) the game was mentioned in his poem Dıwan by the Muhammad Ibn Dâniyâl, a Persian poet and physicist. Tâb is a game of which the purpose is to eliminate the (pieces of the) opponent, while they are moved along a linear track depending on the roll of dice. The number of lines or points along the track for varies; most commonly they are 12, but examples as large as 17 exist as well.

 

A 13th century century games-board from Novgorod, Russia.

The barrel lid from the Mary Rose has two game boards, a nine-men morris game and a daldøsa board. Photo Mary Rose Trust. The measurements of the daldøsa board are from Daniel Diehl and Mark

Donnelly in their book 'Medieval furniture. Plans and instructions for historical reproductions.'  Below: the board found on a 15th century ship from Newport

A (not very visible) daldøsa game board inscribed in stone at Lincoln cathedral, UK.

Photo by Mark Hall in Histoire et Images Medievales 28.

 

Folio 2v and 3r of manuscript MS O 2.45 (after 1248 AD) containing two chess boards, an alquerque, a nine-mens-morris and a daldøsa game board. The first moves of the game are already played. A part of folio 2v has been cut of.  Wren digital library, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, UK.

13^thc.

Sources

https://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-medieval-ship-game.html

https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bgs-2024-0002