What is the legendary board game 'Nefataful' loved by Viking 1000 years ago?

" Hnefatafl (Nefatafuru) " is a board game that the Vikings invading Western Europe coastal areas were playing on a daily basis from the 9th to the 11th century. Once played all over Europe, the game itself was eventually forgotten, becoming legendary existence. Recent research suggests that Nefataful was not only entertainment for Vikings, but also important for cultural and religious purposes.

The Board Game at the Heart of Viking Culture | Atlas Obscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-hnefatafl-viking-board-game

Nefa Tafur was born in Scandinavia around the 5th century BC and spread widely throughout Europe along with the invasion of Viking and the public interest. Nefataful has also appeared in Makoto Yukimura's manga " Vineland Saga " depicting the early 11th century Viking.

When reading Vineland Saga's 15 volumes, there is a game that I have seen! After examining it, it is a traditional game called Hnefatafl, which seems to be a Viking game played since the 5th century pic.twitter.com/oE0wxQ9nLK

- Combatants Dee @ bamboo shootout (@ DEE_worldslayer) October 25, 2014

Nefa Tafur is an asymmetric game where players' batters are not symmetrical like chess or shogi but divided into "central side" holding the king and "peripheral side" attacking in the center. The central side will win if the king can escape from the four corners of the board and victory on the surrounding side and capture the king in the manner of a scissors shogi . There are differences in the size and rules of the board depending on the region, Nefa Tafur is thought to be various variations. According to the literature, Nefataful seems to have been played until 16th century in Wales and 18th century in Lapland, but was forced to be forgotten from the memory of the people by the popularity of chess popularized rapidly from around the 16th century I will.

by Jedudedek

In the nineteenth century, studies of Norse mythology have been actively carried out with reference to medieval Iceland literature. In the medieval literature of Iceland, the word "Tafl" was often introduced, but "Tafl" was interpreted as a Germanic word pointing to "board" or "desk" and implied chess It was considered for a long time as a word. This misunderstanding had a great influence on the translation of Norse mythology, and in the book of Nordic myths published at the time, the heroes were drawing a strategy using chess was drawn. It is said that the origin of chess is said to be in ancient India in BC, so it was one of the reasons why the misunderstanding "Tafl = chess" continued thought that it was not wondering even if it appeared in Northern Europe mythology.

by Belig

But in the 20th century, as Tafl 's rule turned out, the possibility that Tafl is a completely different board game from chess has emerged. In addition, historian H. J · R · Murray, who studied the history of chess in 1913, found a description of the game "Tablut" from a note of an old game writer. The following image is a sketch of Tablut 's board which Mr. Murray found from a memo, but it is designed similar to Nefataful. From this memo, Mr. Murray advocated the hypothesis that "Tablut is likely to be almost the same game as this Tafl, compared with Tafl's rule that frequently appeared in Norse mythology." Starting with Mr. Murray's announcement of the hypothesis, records of Nefa toff game were found in Wales, Ireland, England, Northern Germany.

In 2005, archaeologists Martin Luntkvist and Howard Williams uncovered 23 points, such as Nefataful's pieces and boards made of amber (amber) , from the tomb of Viking in southern Sweden. It is highly probable that this Nefa Tafur was placed in the tomb as a burial item, Viking buried Nefataful with praying for happiness after death. Historyist Helen Whittaker argues that tactical board games were recognized in conjunction with male warrior ideology, since most of Nefataful is found in the male tomb.

by Christer Åhlin / Swedish History Museum

Furthermore, in the excavation survey of the Viking village ruins around 2017 and the 9th century, weapons and horses such as swords, axes, spears, and remains buried together with the pieces of Neferartal were discovered . After identifying the DNA of this remains, it turned out that it was a woman who was buried. From this, I understood the new fact that Viking warrior director who takes command while deciding strategic decision served not only for men but also for women.

Archaeologist Mark Hall said, "Viking struggled on a regular basis during the fight and he was everyday acting as nefataful.I believe that strategy thinking and fighting ability are necessary to win in Nefatarl, Was connected to the status of Viking fighter.Nefataful was buried in the meaning which evaluates the ability of the warrior and the thought that it is possible to play a game even in the world after death. " .

In the following site, you can actually play Nefa Tuff for the CPU opponent.

Hnefatafl