Number of players: 2
Type of game: Dice / Tables
Period: 1507 to 17th Century

Irish was the most popular tables game in England and Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries, and is the direct ancestor of backgammon. It is played with the same board, the same men and very nearly the same starting position as backgammon. The big difference is that in Irish doublets are played only once, rather than twice, which makes it a slower and more careful game.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Dice / Tables
Period: 6th Century

Nard (also called Nardshir) is the Persian ancestor of backgammon and of the whole family of tables games. It is played on the familiar board of 24 points with 15 men each and two dice. The players move in opposite directions, hitting lone men and blocking each other, as they race to bring their men home and bear them off. David Parlett has called it “proto-Backgammon”.

Number of players: 2 to 8
Type of game: Cards
Period: 1611

Bone Ace is a simple gambling game and an early ancestor of modern Blackjack. Each player gets three cards, one of them face up, and every hand is played in two parts: first the highest face up card wins the Bone, then the hand closest to 31 without going over wins.

History of Bone Ace

• Earliest Mention: John Florio mentions Bone Ace in his Italian and English dictionary, The World of Wordes, as early as 1611.

• Family: It is related to One and Thirty and Vingt-et-un, and is one of the ancestors of modern Blackjack.

• The Name: The game is named after its highest card, the Ace of Diamonds, called the Bone Ace.

• Rules Source: These rules are adapted from the card games booklet published by MacGregor Historic Games (historicgames.com).

Number of players: 4 to 8
Type of game: Cards (vying)
Period: 1674

Bragg is the oldest British member of the Poker family. Every hand is played for three stakes: one for the highest face up card, one for the best pair (the Bragg itself, where players bet against each other), and one for the hand closest to 31. The Jack of Clubs is wild, which makes the betting all the more interesting.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Dice / Tables
Period: 14th Century

Fayles is one of the family of mediaeval tables games, the ancestors of modern backgammon. It is played on the standard tables board with 15 men each, but uses three dice rather than two. Its name comes from its most distinctive rule: a player who throws a number they cannot play fails, and loses the game.

History of Fayles

• Origins: Fayles is recorded in an English manuscript of around 1300, which describes a number of tables games played in England at the time. An early version of the rules is recorded in Alfonso X’s Libro de los Juegos.

• Name: The name is thought to come from Old French faille, “failure”, after the rule that a player who cannot move loses.

• Family: It belongs to the wider group of tables games, alongside Tables itself, that were played across mediaeval Europe before backgammon took its modern form.

• Modern Study: Most modern reconstructions draw on H.J.R. Murray’s A History of Board Games other than Chess (1952), which translates and discusses the mediaeval tables manuscripts.

Number of players: 4 to 6
Type of game: Cards (trick-taking)
Period: 1659

17th Century French Tarot is one of the earliest Tarot card games whose rules survive. It is a straightforward trick-taking game: players follow suit, trumps beat suit cards, and at the end of the hand everyone scores for the tricks they took and the valuable cards inside them. The highest score takes the wagers. It is a good first Tarot game for anyone who has played a modern trick-taking game such as Whist or Hearts.

Number of players: 4 to 6
Type of game: Cards (trick-taking)
Period: 1659

17th Century French Tarot, Version 2 is played exactly like Version 1 when it comes to playing and winning tricks, but it is scored differently. Instead of a single hand for the pot, players play a series of hands, gaining or losing points depending on how many cards they win, and the first player to reach 50 points wins the game.

Number of players: 2 or 3
Type of game: Dice
Period: 17th Century

Inn and Inn (also written In and In) is a quick English gambling game played with four dice. Players throw in turn and everything depends on pairs: throw a pair and you are in, throw two pairs and you are in and in and sweep the pot, but throw no pairs at all and you are out, and lose.

Number of players: 2 to 10 (4 or 5 best)
Type of game: Cards (trick-taking)
Period: 16th Century

Maw is a five card trick-taking game for a pot. To win you need three of the five tricks, and if nobody manages it the hand is spoilt and the pot carries over. Its most unusual feature is its trumps: the Five of trumps is the highest card in the game, followed by the Jack of trumps and the Ace of Hearts, whatever suit is trumps.