2

In the Lithuanian historical museum is an old piece of wood with a scratched game board.

The game board consists of a square grid with five lines in each (horizontal and vertical) direction. There are also lines from each corner of the grid to the opposite corner, and lines between the midpoints of the outside of the grid.

Pieces are placed on the intersections of lines.

Does someone know the name of this game?

7
  • 5
    Do you have a picture?
    – LeppyR64
    Aug 29, 2017 at 14:14
  • And could you provide a description, or better yet a picture, of the pieces? Aug 29, 2017 at 15:18
  • 4
    Does the museum have any information on what game it is? It seems odd that they would have something on display with no information.
    – BJ Myers
    Aug 29, 2017 at 15:49
  • 1
    @npst imagine a 4x4 checkerboard. Draw a line from the point on the far left between rows 2 and 3 to the the point on the bottom between columns 2 and 3. Repeat for the other 3 diagonals.
    – LeppyR64
    Sep 1, 2017 at 12:11
  • 1
    @npst Where I am we say that bishops move along the diagonals in Chess. Cheers!
    – LeppyR64
    Sep 10, 2017 at 0:24

1 Answer 1

4

From your description, it sounds like you're describing the game-board for Qirkat, which is a precursor to Checkers/Draughts:

Alquerque board layout from Wikipedia

There are many games which use this or a similar board (this Wikipedia link lists some of them), but neither Qirkat nor any of the variants I know have a uniquely Lithuanian origin.

As far as I understand, this type of game board was rather wide-spread throughout medieval Europe, although exactly what games were played on them isn't so clear from country to country. Without, for example, pieces or instructions, both of which are generally harder to find in the archeological record, it's mostly a matter of speculation.

1
  • Thanks a lot. That is exactly the board, and now that I have the name, I can search for it.
    – user11235
    Sep 15, 2017 at 13:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .