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Now, bring the lives of people in cultures long ago and far away to life in your classroom. Give your students the chance to play games once enjoyed by people of ancient Greece, medieval Europe, pre-colonial Africa or the Americas before Columbus. Chinese checkers aren’t from China, but wait until you’ve tried Chinese chess. Or Maori checkers.
Playing authentic, period games helps students connect with the cultures they have studied.
Sally Wilkins is a former teacher and the author of seven non-fiction books. She will design a games program for your class or school. |
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| |  | | Our modern game of backgammon is just one of the many tables games popular in Medieval Europe. |
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Games of all regions available.
Choose indoor or outdoor games.
Coordinate with your art department for a multidisciplinary unit.
What’s available?
Viking board games, Roman hopscotch and Bantu math challenges. Mayan pitch-and-toss and Russian tag. Games played by Native Americans and others brought by Colonists. Half-a-dozen chess variants, representing India, China, Japan, and Persia as well as Europe. Compare Inuit tingmiujang pieces from the Arctic with Yauonde abbia chips from Africa: they look nothing alike, but both represent animals and were used for games of chance. Or weigh the evidence and decide for yourself—was golf the invention of Scottish university students, German shepherds, or Chinese royalty?
Program will be tailored to your grade level and curriculum. Check here for some possibilities.
Select from more than 100 games.
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| |  | | Kawakib was a Persian board game based on the Zodiac. |
 | | Training exercises, such as this one, became sporting events, and fighters scored points instead of killing their opponents. |
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Games and Human History
(From the introduction to Sports and Games of Medieval Cultures)
The history of humankind and the history of play are inextricably linked. Chase-and-capture games preserve the fears of our ancestors, preyed upon by lions or wolves. Arch and trap games such as “London Bridge,” marbles and tops, hoops, keep-away and keep-aloft games are found on every continent.
As individuals get older their games become more complex. So too, it seems, as cultures develop. Rules can be as simple as “when I shoot you, you have to fall down” or as complex as the elaborate rituals of mahjong or cricket. Primitive peoples seem to play relatively simple games, while more developed peoples have played more complex games. On the other hand, primitive peoples play more. At one time scientists assumed that modern people would have more leisure, and therefore more play, as they spent less time securing food and shelter. The truth seems to be that as people spend less time filling their basic needs, their lives become more complex, with less time for strictly leisure activities.
In primitive societies, sports are for everyone: grannies and toddlers played palitún, bowgitee and even campball. As sports grow more complicated they often become a profession for the few, providing entertainment for the many. When training in the ancient skills of warfare and hunting were transformed into sports competitions, the same young men who would have been hunters and soldiers became athletes. |
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| For more information, or to schedule a visit, please email
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or see contact page for Sally's address. |
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