Questions tagged [history]
The history tag explores variation editions of changes to a board game. It also is used for looking into the past events that lead up to a game in some way.
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What exactly was so broken about Urza's Block?
I've often heard it said that the Urza Block (Urza's Saga, Urza's Journey, Urza's Destiny) was the most powerful, broken block in Magic history, with decks able to win on turn 1 or 2. I also saw it ...
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History of board games [closed]
Is there a good book about the history of board games?
Preferably the book would cover all the way from the ancient games to the newest fads in the market.
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Why is Royal Flush ever listed separately from Straight Flush?
Many sources explicitly list Royal Flush as the highest poker hand (example). This seems unnecessary - it's the highest hand anyway as the highest Straight Flush. When presenting a ruleset, ...
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Is there an equivalent of Deep Blue in the Go world?
Deep Blue was a chess-playing computer developed by IBM. On May 11, 1997, the machine won a six-game match by two wins to one with three draws against world champion Garry Kasparov. Kasparov accused ...
Forkrul Assail
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Was it ever possible to target a zone?
I noticed that MTG has an update to the rules for targeting. I don't know how long ago it was changed (the post containing this rule was from 2015), but there used to be this rule:
114.2 Only ...
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What are the reasons behind naming the "community chest" and "chance" cards in Monopoly?
Why are the cards called so?
Are there any plausible reasons as why they are included in the game of monopoly? Does their naming have anything to do with real-world namings?
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What form of chess was played in seventh-century Arabia?
In Islam, there are a number of reports (of variable grades of authenticity) that the prophet Muhammad either forbade or explicitly disliked the playing of chess. As is known, he was centered in what ...
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Why are the pips on dice organized the way they are?
Is there any particular reason why the pips (the little dots) on a die are arranged in those patterns (3 is a diagonal line, 6 is two horizontal lines, etc.)? And also why any face plus its opposite ...
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Why isn't "Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small" called "Agricola: All Creatures Great and Small"?
It's always been rather jarring to me that the excellent game "Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small" has that name, rather than the usual expression, "All Creatures Great and Small".
(Most people ...
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Which games have ever been rated #1 on Boardgamegeek.com's Geek Rating?
What are all of the games that have ever reached the #1 rank on boardgamegeek.com's Geek Rating list? The current #1 is Pandemic Legacy, and prior to that it was Twilight Struggle.
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Where did the "can't build next to the robber" house rule come from?
Several people I've met play Settlers of Catan with the house rule "you may not build anything that isn't a knight next to the robber". As far as I can see, it's not in the rule book.
To clarify: ...
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What rules changes have there been in Uno?
A previous question revealed that there has been at least one (albeit minor) rules change for Uno recently.
This makes me curious to know if there have been any other changes to the rules over the ...
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First modern Naughts and Crosses/Tic Tac Toe?
When was Naughts and Crosses first released in its current form?
I see there were Egyptian and the Roman versions, but these are very different games.
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What was the effect of AlphaGo on Go?
When the AlphaGo programs first appeared experts claimed certain moves opened their eyes. Now a couple of years later I wonder what the effect is on go. Has human performance improved, like when chess ...
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What's the etymology for the term "Bingo" in Scrabble?
Using all 7 tiles nets a Scrabble player a 50-point bonus and is sometimes referred to as a "Bingo". I'm curious: how did that term come into use and why does it have such meaning?
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Why do older players keep their money under the edge of the board?
I've been seeing a strange behavior that I don't understand. It seems to only happen with somewhat older players.
When they have paper money in a game, they slide it partway under the edge of the ...
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Has the significance of the term 'cast' changed?
Spellshock currently has the following wording in the Gatherer:
Whenever a player casts a spell, Spellshock deals 2 damage to that player.
However, the original wording shown in the card image is ...
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Vintage Monopoly Game: What Year is it?
I have a nearly complete Monopoly set that I've been researching, and some dates I found tossed around are 1947 and 1955 (on selling pages), but I still can't even confirm the decade it was made. Here ...
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In Axis and Allies, what US strategy has the highest win rate? Why?
Everyone knows how the United States REALLY won World War II. It concentrated first in North Africa, then the Mediterranean (Italy), and closed with the cross-channel invasion at Normandy that ended ...
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How Has The Fluxx Core Game Changed Over The Years?
While researching Fluxx for a different question, I came across this chronology for editions of the game in Wikipedia:
Fluxx 2.0 (new card layout, use of color, bridge-sized cards)
Fluxx 2.1 (...
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Small go board history
Does anyone know origin of smaller go boards (9*9,13*13)? When (and where) was first introduced? I looked on Sensei library but didn't find anything about history of go boards.
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How many different variations/editions of Monopoly are there?
Is there a website that has a comprehensive list of all the various editions of the Monopoly board-game there are? I'm sure there's hundreds... but I'm not having much luck finding it online.
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Do you have to play a (replaced) joker immediately with 2 tiles from your hand?
I don't have the paper rules here as a reference, but I grew up playing Rummikub with the rule that, if you replaced a joker on the table you must immediately replay the joker in a run or set with at ...
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Earliest cooperative board game
Which was the first cooperative board game?
For the purpose of this question, we can define "cooperative" as "there is more than one player, and at the end of the game, they either all ...
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How is Hnefatafl related to Chess and Go?
What is the history of Hnefatafl in relation to Chess and/or Go? Which was developed first and what if anything influenced the development of Hnefatafl?
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Is "The Aristocrats" the first WBR deck to top 8 a Pro Tour?
Tom Martell won Pro Tour Gatecrash with "The Aristocrats", a white-black-red deck that plays Cartel Aristocrat, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Blasphemous Act.
This is a historically poor color ...
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Why do some board games have long-lasting appeal?
Often, one plays a computer game through once and then is done with it. "Replay-ability" is something that is a great plus with a game, but not every successful one has it. But with board games, being ...
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Did the first version of Ticket to Ride released in Europe have a USA map or a Europe map?
In the United States, the game called simply Ticket to Ride has a map of the United States. Was this the case when it was originally released in Europe?
I’m curious to know if it was branded ...
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Why is it called "Chinese Checkers"?
It is not a Checkers variant, nor did it originate in China, how could this name possibly make sense?
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What's the "biggest change we've ever made" in Magic?
I'm currently catching up on Head Designer Mark Rosewater's "Drive to Work" podcast. I've been out of the loop for about a year.
In Episode 460: Announcements, which aired in August of 2017, he says:
...
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When was the Lord Licorice character added to Candy Land?
I recently played a brand new copy of Candy Land with my son and noticed a character named Lord Licorice, who I don't remember from playing the game when I was a child.
The Candy Land Wikipedia ...
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What is the Goods Station referred to in Scotland Yard
I'm playing the 1996 version of Scotland Yard.
By 174 on the map is Goods Station. I can't find any reference to this in historical London geography.
Was this a real place? If not, what does it ...
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What was the largest flop in board game history?
The history of videogames is full of games that failed to turn a profit. There are also a handful of games that are maligned by critics, and are regarded as flops. E.T. and Pacman are arguably some of ...
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Traditional 1-stone handicap before komi
In "traditional" handicap, when there is a ranking difference of 1, black plays first and there is no komi (Sensei's Library uses this term). But if you play without komi anyway, this is no handicap. ...
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Why did Yu-Gi-Oh! change from an unlimited deck size to a 60 card maximum deck size?
When Yu-Gi-Oh! first started, an unlimited deck size was allowed. Now there is a limit of 60 cards. It may not always be advantageous to play more cards (see Why would one want more than 40 cards in ...
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Can anyone provide a citation for the existence of pre-alpha MTG rules about an initiative stat in combat?
I remember years ago hearing about a rule/mechanic that existed in early prototypes of Magic the Gathering, before the Alpha set was released.
Basically all creatures had 3 combat stats: power, ...
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What board game was found in this Viking tomb?
I was reading an article on the first genetic proof of female viking warriors, which mentions the inclusion of a game in the tomb:
Furthermore, a full set of gaming pieces indicates knowledge of ...
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Do any precolumbian board games survive?
A number of board games survive to the present day from quite ancient times in the Old World: mancala, go, even the physical components of the game of Ur survived (though we don't know the rules).
Do ...
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Is there a traditional card game with similar rules to "Lost Cities"?
It's often pointed out that the excellent Reiner Knizia card game, Lost Cities, could be played with a standard deck of cards if there were one extra suit. Thinking about the simplicity and elegance ...
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Why was stone scoring (group tax) abandoned?
The game of go is said to have simple rules. Simpler, say, than chess, because there is no need to learn how pieces move. However, there are various rulesets (Japanese rules, Chinese rules, differing ...
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Board games sponsored for an agenda?
This is mostly for curiosity, I've been thinking of board games from a publishers' point of view lately and was wondering if there are any games out there that have been published to pursue some other ...
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Source for significant historical events
I'm designing a game that involves identifying historical events, and I'm looking for an online source that I can use to generate a set of event cards.
For my prototype, I'm using a copy of the game ...
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What land destruction enabler was wrongfully banned in the early history of Magic: the Gathering?
I once heard a story about a Land Destruction deck that dominated tournaments at some point in early Magic's history. The story as I remember it is that the deck ran heavy land destruction to deny ...
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First game board to use hexagonal tiles?
Hex is likely the most famous early application, circa 1942.
The wiki for Sannin Shōgi, a modernization of three-player Shogi, puts the invention of that game circa 1930.
This article Games for ...
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Know any games designed for old game systems like Orion or Sly [closed]
A Game System is a set of components and/or rules that are intended to be used to create games. That is, one set of components that allows to play several diffrent games.
Recent game systems like ...
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Was Backgammon played in ancient Rome?
In the film «Spartacus» (Kirk Douglas, 1960), during a bath scene at 2h07m, one can see what clearly is a Backgammon set on a bench, right beside Caesar.
Considering that the scene probably ...
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Changes to rules in 'Hoyle's'?
Do the rules in official Hoyle's books ever experience changes, major or minor?
For example, I have a Hoyle's Rules of Games from 1963: can I assume whatever content is in the book is still valid for ...
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Origin of Puppet Stayman
There are many variations, but I presume there was an initial original version of puppet stayman.
Does anyone know who came up with it, and why it is named as such?
(A google search has been ...
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What came first? Last Card or Uno?
Which game came first? According to Wikipedia, Uno was invented in 1971, but I cannot find anything giving a date for Last Card
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What is the origins and evolutionary track of Go game?
I didn't find any source explaining the "origins" or "evolution", rather than just history of Go.
Book and article suggestions would also be helpful.
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