Bin Night news is coming soon. Until then, a short history of tabletop and card games.
Believed to date back to the sixth century BCE in Asia
Go (weiqi) is often called the world's oldest board game. It is believed to have started in Asia as early as the sixth century BCE, and it is still played today.
India, China or Persia: the sources disagree
Chess is one of the best known board games in the world, yet historians still disagree about where it began. India, China and Persia are all named as its birthplace.
From India and ancient Egypt
Pachisi, the game behind Parcheesi, was first played in India. Checkers grew out of a similar game played in ancient Egypt.
Games that began as rituals
Early dice were made of animal bones and teeth, stones and even precious metals and gems. Many games grew out of rituals in which stones, and later dice, were used to tell the future. Ancient Egypt is credited with making dice into cubes and linking them to gambling.
From China to Europe
Playing cards most likely began in China, where paper was invented. They spread across Asia and the Middle East, and in the 14th century the Moors brought them to Europe. Early cards were made by hand, so mostly wealthy people could afford them.
France, trumps and solitaire
France designed the four suits most of us know: hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds. In the 15th century the idea of trump opened the door to many new games, and the standard deck reached 52 cards. By the late 18th century solitaire, or patience, was fashionable.
How games became a home pastime
Game boards were traditionally wooden. During the Industrial Revolution the paper industry grew, cardboard boards became common and new printing methods standardised designs. In the Victorian era, games such as The Mansion of Happiness and Pilgrim's Progress were made to teach manners and lessons to children.
Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride
Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and Mahjong stayed favourites for generations. In the 21st century Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride became hugely popular, European Eurogames like Carcassonne shaped adult strategy games, and crowdfunding widened what could be made.
From war games to Dungeons & Dragons
Tabletop role-playing grew out of military war games such as the Prussian Kriegsspiel of the 19th century. Dungeons & Dragons, created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and published in 1974, turned a battle game into one where each player acts as a single character.
These articles are our own short summaries of the sources linked on each card.