According to a new study, board and table top games actually started off as pastimes for the elite in Ancient Egypt and Rome.
The study, published by the journal Antiquity, mentions that table top games probably originated in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent regions around 3500 B.C, before spreading around the Mediterranean. Eventually they reached the Roman Empire, and what is now Europe.
Based of archaeological evidence, though, Britain didn’t get these games until around the end of the 1st century B.C. They probably came from the newly acquired Gual, which was region encompassing what’s now France, Switzerland, most of Belgium and other areas.
Not just any blacksmith or plebeian was allowed to play them, however. "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 belonging to elite, privileged people."
According to hall, the oldest table top game was the "Royal Game of Ur," which is also known as the Game of Twenty Squares, and was discovered in the tombs of Ur in Iraq. While no one has really been able to figure out just what the rules were, it’s commonly agreed that it was the original backgammon.
Bruce Whitehill, founder of the Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors and the inventor of numerous board games, pointed out that a large amount of games can also be tracked back to India and China, using Go as an example. While Go has been adopted as the ‘national game of Japan,’ it actually originated in ancient China.
As for the U.S, Whitehill believes that there actually weren’t any that were commercially produced until 1822. Two games, "Travelers' Tour Through the United States" and "Travelers' Tour Through Europe" were produced by New York booksellers F. & R. Lockwood. After that, no games were produced for the next 21 years in the US until a small Massachusetts publishing company produced a moral-themed game called “The Mansion of Happiness,” which became hugely popular.
"Those who pursue vice are punished (sent back on the board) and those who possess admirable virtues are rewarded." Whitehill explained.
So next time you’re rolling your D6 for a skill check, remember that in Egypt, you probably wouldn’t be allowed to put your filthy peasant hands anywhere near a game.
