Lanrick

Lanrick is a board game you have very likely never heard of. It was invented by Lewis Carroll, of 'Alice in Wonderland' fame, in 1878. He then made several rule changes before it was published in 1893.

Lanrick is a positional game, with an element akin to musical chairs at its heart. The best explanation of the game rules I have been able to find is in this video:

I only know of one commercially produced version of Lanrick (the one mentioned in the video). But it being American, it would involve hefty shipping charges and custom duties on top of that, so that wasn't really an option for me. 

Given that the equipment for Lanrick is pretty simple (a chessboard and two groups of five pawns is basically all that's needed), I looked for a DIY option. Chessboards I have a-plenty, and I also have a full set of pieces for Alice Chess. Now what's better for a game invented by Lewis Carroll than use the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as pawns? I used a small Queen of Hearts card as marker for the rendezvous point.

So here you go: my unique personal set for Lanrick: leather chess board and ten white/brown rabbit pawns! Below is the set-up at the start of the game. 

In the position below the 9-square rendezvous point is full and so the brown side loses a pawn (musical chairs, remember?).

Where Lanrick fits on the 'traditional - classic - proprietary' continuum isn't clear, but it's nevertheless an interesting game to add to the collection.

'Traditional' vs 'classic' board games?

My main reason for starting this blog was to create a record for myself of the traditional board games I have. And if others also happen to be interested to see these, and learn a bit of their history, that's an extra bonus. 

But what is regarded as a 'traditional' board game? I think I will largely follow David Parlett in this.

In his view, a 'traditional' board game is one which is centuries or millennia old, has no specific named inventor, and has an origin more or less hidden in the mists of time. 'Folk game' would be another term for it. 

Another category of board games that Parlett covers is 'proprietary' games. Much more recent, invented by a named person or a company, name and game under copyright, and commercially produced. Probably the majority of board games on sale right now fall into this category. 

And then there is the category 'classic' board game. What is 'classic' here? I guess this category sort of straddles both 'traditional' and 'proprietary' board games. Chess can be considered a 'classic' board game as well as, say, Monopoly. But Chess isn't under any copyright (anyone can market a chess game and call it Chess), whereas Monopoly is (so marketing a game called Monopoly, without permission, breaches copyright). The Royal Game of Goose is probably one of the first board games which was commercially produced, but is long out of copyright and in the public domain. And a more recent game like Ludo, a 'proprietary' game based on a 'traditional' game, Pachisi, can also be considered 'classic'. 

So 'classic' is a rather nebulous term here; when does a 'proprietary' board game become 'classic'? There is no clear-cut answer, but having been around for quite a while is certainly a key part of it.

Why am I going on about these different categories? Basically, to clear my head for expanding my collection to include what I regard as 'classic' board games which don't already fall under 'traditional' (still with me?).

So my (admittedly, vague and flexible) definition of 'classic' board games is 'proprietary' games that have shown to have 'staying power'. In other words, that have been around for decades if not longer, and are still being commercially produced and played today. Mainly, these will be board games I used to play in my youth (one of these, Mens Erger Je Niet!, is already part of the collection). I intend to explore their 'ludemes' (key play characteristics) and links to 'traditional' board games, and see where they fit in the 'traditional' categories (race, hunt, positional, war, etc).

Watch this space if you're interested!

Draughts

Draughts (or Checkers) is a war game derived from Alquerque. As such, its history goes back to the 10th century, with Draughts itself coming into being a few centuries later when Alquerque was transferred to a chess board. 

Draughts comes in many, mostly local, versions, which mainly differ in the size of the board (8 x 8, 10 x 10, etc), number of pieces, and rules regarding movement, capturing and promotion. It's not my intention to collect multiple variants, as they all look pretty much the same. So to add Draughts to the 'traditional board games' collection, I simply got myself a set of wooden pieces and placed them on a chess board of the right size.

Here it is!

Boter, kaas, en eieren

Boter, Kaas en Eieren ("Butter, Cheese and Eggs") is the Dutch name for a game known in the English-speaking world as 'Tic-tac-toe' or 'Noughts and Crosses'.

It is the simplest of a family of positional games, where the game is won by being the first to get his or her pieces in a line. As a family, its history goes back to at least ancient Egypt. The family is known as 'mills' or 'merels', and includes Three Men's Morris, Five/Six Men's Morris, and Nine Men's Morris.

As the simplest game of the family, playing it hardly needs any equipment: a piece of paper and a pen or other writing utensil is enough!

But I was keen to add a slightly more substantial version of the game to the collection, and saw this small wooden board plus playing pieces for a few quid on eBay.

By the way the origin of the Dutch name is truly hidden in the mists of time ...

Mens Erger Je Niet!

Mens Erger Je Niet! is the Dutch name for the game also known as Ludo, which itself is a commercial version of the traditional Indian board game Pachisi. The Dutch name of the game loosely translates as "Man, don't get bothered!", and, as Ludo, it dates back to the late 19th century. The game is a race game, in which each of up to six players has four pieces to get from the start, around the board, and then to home. Capturing is by displacement and captured pieces don't disappear, but have to start again (the Dutch title warns you not to get bothered, irritating though it is to have to start again!). Due to each player having a few pieces, rather than one, the game is a complex race game, with play a mixture between chance and strategy. 

My copy of Mens Erger Je Niet!, even though new when I got it, has the exact layout of what the game looked like when I was a kid in the Netherlands, both in terms of design of the board and pieces, and the artwork on the box.

Childhood memories, for sure!

Bagh Chal

And so we come to the final of four games from Lemery Games' Ludos Asia.

Bagh Chal is a hunt game from Nepal, and an example of the many 'tiger games' from this part of the world. In Bagh Chal, four tigers are pitched against 20 goats. The aim of the tigers is to capture goats (by jumping over them), whereas the goats aim to block the tigers' movement (similar to Fox & Geese). As a typical traditional folk game, its origin and history is hidden in the mists of time, but it's surely centuries old.

The game from Lemery Games comes as the usual cardboard box, inside of which is the little pouch containing the cloth board and wooden pieces.

The reverse of the board allows playing of another 'tiger game': Pulijudam, from India. 

In Pulijudam, three tigers face 15 goats, and the aims for both sides are the same as for Bagh Chal.

Bagh Chal is, like the other three games in this Asian volume (Yut, Hasami Shogi, and Jarmo), beautifully produced, with lots of attention to detail. Taking this and the price for each game into account, these games are really excellent value for money. 

Watch this space for the games in the next volume (Africa) ....

Jarmo

Jarmo is the third of the four games in the Asia volume from Lemery Games. 

Jarmo is claimed to be a game of Mongolian or Tatar origin, which allegedly dates back to at least the 13th century. According to legend, the grandson of Ghengis Khan always carried a version of the game with him on military campaigns and brought it to eastern Europe during the Mongol invasion. I haven't been able to find any hard evidence for the game's origin and age beyond this often-repeated claim. Interestingly, Jarmo isn't mentioned in the key board game books by Bell, Murray and Parlett ...

The aim of the game is to occupy the opponent's starting row, capturing pieces (through displacement) along the way. As such is is basically a hybrid between a positional game and a war game. Interestingly, the layout of the board is slightly asymmetrical in terms of the paths that the pieces can move on.

As with all Ludos Ancient games from Lemery Games, Jarmo comes in a nice pouch in a sturdy little cardboard box.

The board is printed cloth ...

... and this shows the pieces in their starting positions. 

As I've gotten used to by now, a very nicely produced game!