Oldest board games are a form of entertainment that has accompanied people since ancient times. But traditional board games and modern board games are actually very different. Traditional board games are usually abstract games with refined rules. They are full of strategy; while modern board games contain richer elements and themes and are full of fun.
Boqi
Born around 700 AD, it is the oldest board game that is very popular in Africa, the Middle East and other regions. After American William Julius Champion Jr launched its variant in 1940, it also became popular in the United States.
There will be 12 holes in the middle of the chessboard of this type of game, and each hole will have 4 seeds at the beginning. Both sides take turns to take all the chess pieces from one of their own holes and distribute them to other holes in a clockwise direction, one hole for each, until all are distributed.
Its highly playable rules have also been refined as a mechanism and added to modern board games, and the boundaries between traditional games and modern games have become blurred in it.
(1) Trajan
When it comes to the chess-playing mechanism, “Trajan” is a game that cannot be ignored. The background of the game is the era when the ancient Roman emperor Trajan ruled. Players need to manage all aspects of the empire in order to get the highest score. The cover of the game looks like a war game, but in fact its main theme is still management and development. The block-based design is naturally not lacking. The game consists of six blocks: Navigation, Assembly, Military, Trajan, Senate, and Architecture. Each block has different internal logic that allows players to score points, and the “chess-playing” mechanism connects them together.
(2) Five Tribes
In “Five Tribes”, chess-playing is its main gameplay. At the beginning of the game, 30 game blocks are placed in a 5*6 square. Three Meeboos are randomly placed on each block.
In each player’s turn, you need to pick up all the Meeboos on a game block. Then place them in a straight line on adjacent blocks, one on each block. However, the color of the Meebo placed on the last block must be the same as the color of one of the Meeboos already on it. Then take the two Meeboos of the same color.
Some Meeboos can help players gain points, and some Meeboos have special effects. For example, a red Meebo can destroy other Meeboos on an adjacent tile. When there is no Meebo on a tile during your turn, you control that tile. You can also place a camel of your own color as a control marker.
