Whilst sitting around a campfire, it's fun to have some games to play. These are a few of ours- some are more authentic than others, some are gambling games whilst others are drinking games, but all are fun!
The Vikings had various words for games and entertainment, covering everything from drinking and storytelling to gambling and dice games, board games, wrestling and other physical games, juggling daggers, story or riddle telling, ball games (including a two-player game involving balls and sticks we sadly don't have the rules for), swimming, skiing, skating, hunting, archery, practical joking, "turf" (throwing lumps of earth at each other, apparently), horse riding and animal-fighting.
Regia has a page with details of lots of Viking-age games, whilst Treheima has scholarly examination of the evidence for which games the Vikings played and some good links.
See also our page on Fighting Games, which are definitely NOT recommended for campfire use!
Board Games
- Hnefatafl
- Treheima has a page examining all the evidence we have about Tafl games (offsite)
- Game Cabinet has a page on Hnefatafl (offsite). We play the Norse version on an 11x11 board.
- Noggin the Nog is a much more authentic version? (offsite)
- Nine Men's Morris
- Lore and Saga has a page on Nine Men's Morris (offsite)
- Printable boards to play the Saami game of Tablut and the ancient game of merels or nine men's morris. The boards are annotated with grid references so you can play over video. Tablut and nine men's morris boards
Dice Games
Riddles
- Wychwood Riddles
- Regia's games page has several riddles (offsite)
- The Kalamazoo Riddle Group have all of the Exeter Book riddles online (offsite)
Tests of Warriors
- Tests of Strength
- Tests of Skill: Topless Knife Fighting
- Tests of Wits and Endurance: The Spoon Game. But we don't talk about the spoon game, it needs to be experienced first hand.
Drinking Games
Random Games
Roleplaying Games
Plays
Plays can be performed at feasts, as an entertainment in the hall at Hauksby, or read out dramatically in video meetings - as in 2020, the Year of Plague.
All plays are copyright to the original author and may be performed freely, but not reproduced without permission or without crediting the author. It is fine to link to the original resource on this wiki.
