Tafl

The Fourth-Century Classic

Tafl (literally "table") games are a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic board games representing battles between unequal forces. Unlike modern games like chess or checkers, in tafl white and black begin with different pieces and engage in asymmetric warfare. White's goal is to escape to safety from black's forces, who relentlessly attempt to capture white's king.

Unfortunately, most tafl games faded into obscurity after the introduction of chess and the rules have almost been lost. However, modern enthusiasts have recently studied historical sources and analyzed the few extant tafl games to reconstruct the rules of this ancient stategy game. This tafl program lets you play nine different tafl games, each with slight variations and different setups, according to the most accepted version of the modern rules.

If you're a fan of tactical board games like chess, you'll delight in tafl games. Give it a try today!