#ThrowBackThursday: Five timeless board games still played today

Did you know Chess, Snakes & Ladders and Ludo were board games originally invented in India?

When was the last time you played a board game? While most games end in family fights when that one family member always ‘cheats’, all is fair in love and war right? WRONG! The gloves are off – may the best player win!

1. Monopoly

Formerly dubbed The Landlord’s Game, Monopoly is a board game first sold by Parker Brothers in 1935. Over the years, this board game has evolved internationally; the currencies increased with time and names of places were customised to each country. However, it still provides hours of entertainment. Nobody reads the rules of Monopoly until an argument breaks out.

2. Ludo

The earliest evidence of this game in India is the depiction of boards on the caves of Ajanta. This game was played by the Mughal emperors of India. In England, Pachisi was modified using a cubic die with dice cup and patented as Ludo in 1896.

How to play:

Players take turns in a clockwise order; highest throw of the die starts. Each throw, the player decides which piece to move. A piece simply moves in a clockwise direction around the track given by the number thrown. If no piece can legally move according to the number thrown, play passes to the next player.

3. Scrabble

American architect, Alfred Mosher Butts, created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented called Lexiko. This game has improved vocabulary since 1938.  Scoring a triple letter point and double letter word score is the key to victory.

4. Backgammon – One of the oldest board games still played today

Precursors to Backgammon dating from about 3,000 BC have been excavated from Iran, making it one of the oldest two-player games still around today. Various people have been credited with the game’s invention at later dates, but its exact time of origin is unknown.

5. Snakes and Ladders

The board game originated in ancient India, where it was known with the name Mokshapat or Moksha Patamu. It’s not exactly known when or who invented it, though it’s believed the game was played at a time as early as second century BC.

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