Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!): History’S Most Infamous Board Game 47

Board Game Studies 6/ 2003 CNWS PUBLICATIONS Board Game Studies CNWS PUBLICATIONS is produced by the Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands. Editorial board: M. Baud, R.A.H.D. Effert, M. Forrer, F. Hüsken, K. Jongeling, H. Maier, P. Silva, B. Walraven. All correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. W.J. Vogelsang, editor in chief CNWS Publications, c/o Research School CNWS, Leiden University, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. Tel. +31 (0)71 5272987/5272171 Fax. +31 (0)71 5272939 E-mail: [email protected] Board Game Studies, Vol. 6. International Journal for the Study of Board Games - Leiden 2003: Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies (CNWS). ISSN 1566-1962 - (CNWS publications, ISSN 0925-3084) ISBN 00000000000000 Subject heading: Board games. Board Game Studies: Internet: http://boardgamesstudies.org Cover photograph: Manfred Zollinger Typeset by Cymbalum, Paris (France) Cover design: Arnoud Bernhard © Copyright 2003, Research School CNWS, Leiden University, The Netherlands Copyright reserved. Subject to the exceptions provided for by law, no part of this publication may be reproduced and/or published in print, by photocopying, on microfilm or in any other way without the written consent of the copyright-holder(s); the same applies to whole or partial adaptations. The publisher retains the sole right to collect from third parties fees in respect of copying and/or take legal or other action for this purpose. Board Game International Journal for the Study of Board Games c n w s Studies 2003/6 Editorial Board Affiliations Thierry Depaulis (FRA) The following affiliated institutes Vernon Eagle (USA) underwrite the efforts of this journal and Irving Finkel (UK) actively exhibit board games material, Ulrich Schädler (CH) publish or financially support board Alex de Voogt (NL, Managing Editor) games research. International Institute for Asian Studies, Board Game Studies is an academic Leiden journal for historical and systematic Address: Prof.dr. W.A.L. Stokhof, research on board games. Its object is to IIAS, P.O. Box 9515, NL - 2300 RA provide a forum for board games research Leiden (The Netherlands) from all academic disciplines in order to Russian Chess Museum and Magazine further our understanding of the “Chess in Russia”, Moscow development and distribution of board Address: Yuri Averbakh, Gogolevsky games within an interdisciplinary Blvd. 14, 121019 Moskwa (Russia) academic context. British Museum, London Articles are accepted in English, Address: Dr I.L. Finkel, French, and German and will be refereed London WC 1B 3DG (United by at least two editors under the final Kingdom) responsibility of CNWS, Leiden Universiteit Maastricht, Department of University. Computer Science, Maastricht Address: Prof.dr. H.J. van den Herik, P. O. Box 616, NL - 6200 MD Maastricht (The Netherlands) Corporate Sponsor Spiel des Jahres e.V. Patrons Patrons support the efforts of this journal through continuous financial support. If you wish to become a patron, please contact CNWS by post, fax or E-mail. We hereby thank all our sponsors for their generous support: Irving Finkel, Caroline Goodfellow, Niek Neuwahl, Thierry Depaulis, Thomas Thomsen, Spartaco Albertarelli, Jean Retschitzki, Jurgen Stigter. CONTENTS 5 Articles Peter Michaelsen Articles On some unusual types of stick dice 9 Beiträge Rangachar Vasantha Board Games from the City of Vijayanagara (Hampi) (1336-1565): a survey and a study 25 Mayarí Granados Reflections on the role of baroque games tables with allegories of war in German courts 37 Andrew Morris-Friedman and Ulrich Schädler “Juden Raus!” (Jews Out!): History’s most infamous board game 47 Documents and Materials Manfred Zollinger Documents et Matériaux Zwei unbekannte Regeln des Gänsespiels: Ulisse Aldrovandi Dokumente und Materialien und Herzog August d.J. von Braunschweig-Lüneburg 61 Research Notes Thierry Depaulis Notes de recherche Un jeu de pions mapuche au XVIe siècle 87 Forschungsberichte Alex de Voogt Hawalis in Oman: a first account of expertise and dispersal of four-row mancala in the Middle East 95 Obituaries / Nécrologies / Nachrufen Ken Whyld (6 March 1926-11 July 2003), by Jurgen Stigter 99 Alain Borveau (1933-2002), by Thierry Depaulis 102 Book Reviews Renate Syed, Kanauj, die Maukharis und das Caturanga. Der Comptes rendus Ursprung des Schachspiels und sein Weg von Indien nach Rezensionen Persien, von Egbert Meissenburg 104 Stefan Fatsis, Word freak: heartbreak, triumph, genius, and obsession in the world of competitive Scrabble players, by Wayne Saunders 119 Robert Bollschweiler, Die Handschriften großer Schachmeister, von Hans Holländer 125 Roberto Convenevole and Francesco Bottone, La storia di Risiko e l'anello mancante : origini e evoluzione del gioco di strategia più diffuso nel mondo, by Thierry Depaulis 127 Summaries / Résumés / Zusammenfassungen 130 Instructions to Authors 137 Board Game Articles / Articles / Beiträge Studies /6 On some unusual types of stick dice / Peter Michaelsen he North European dice board games daldøs(a) and sáhkku (described in BGS 4) are played with some very special dice. These are carved in wood, and are pris- Tmatic and four-sided with more or less pyramidal or rounded ends. They have four faces which are typically marked with 1, 2, 3, or 4 vertical strokes, which are probably to be interpreted as the corresponding Roman numerals. Sometimes one side is left blank, and with one exception one of the sides always is marked with an ‘X’. Since the publication of BGS 4, several new pieces of information about these games and their dice have come to my knowledge. The close relationship between the South- West Norwegian daldøsa dice and the Saami sáhkku dice has become even more evident. One of three types of sáhkku dice preserved at Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo (Fig. 1, c) is marked in exactly the same way as the daldøsa dice. Two strokes are placed opposite to four strokes, and an X opposite to three strokes. This arrangement has not been found on other sáhkku dice. The dice mentioned differ in one more respect from other known sáhkku dice: all edges are chamfered, and in stead of a pyramid shape on two sides they have a square, blank surface, somewhat smaller than the four sides provided with sym- bols.(1) The only known pair of Danish daldøs dice belongs to the game set kept at Thisted Museum, North West Jutland. These dice have short, pyramidal ends, and are marked with an A instead of the X found on the daldøsa and sáhkku dice. Normally the Norwegian daldøsa dice have rounded ends – a feature found on several 150-200 year old dice. There are exceptions from this rule, however. Alf Næsheim sent me a drawing of a very old daldøsa die with clearly pyramidal ends. This unusually large die has 1 cm long ends, making it 6 cm long in total, and is 3 cm wide.(2) Fig. 1.Three types of sáhkku dice kept at the Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo. The 13 dice belonging to type c have museum no. NFSA.0955, while the two dice of type a and one of type b are unnumbered. (Drawing: curator Leif Pareli, Norsk Folkemuseum). 10 BOARD GAME STUDIES 6, 2003 When Russians in Siberia played sáhkku there in the 1890s, they apparently followed a quite different tradition. According to the Swedish scientist V. Carlheim-Gyllensköld, they used to play with 2x13 warriors and one king on a 3x13 lines board. In this game 3 small 6-sided dice were used. One side was marked with a cross, named sakko, the other sides with 1, 2, 3 and 4 strokes, while the sixth side was left blank.(3) This deviat- ing dice tradition is very interesting, but for the present it is very difficult to say if this tradition is older or younger than the Scandinavian one. Did the four-sided Scandinavian dice reach Scandinavia together with the games? If this is the case, they probably had their origin somewhere in the Islamic world. The ran- dom generators connected with the tâb or sîg games of Africa and Asia are very different from those used in daldøs(a) and sáhkku, however. In a few cases sea shells are used, the so-called “cowries”, but more often these games are played with two-sided dice sticks. Alternatively, the dice used in the two Scandinavian games may have had their roots in Northern Europe. In my search for possibly related types of dice I have discovered several Northern European types of four-sided dice sticks, which apparently have been overlooked by scholars. At least I have not been able to find any systematic investigation of these. I think they are quite interesting in themselves, regardless of their eventual relationship with the daldøsa and sáhkku dice. The North-European stick dice which I will discuss in this article, can be divided into three groups: 1) stick dice used in a vertical race game, 2) stick dice used in ‘put-and-take’ or ‘teetotum’ games, 3) stick dice used in out door stick games as a substitute for a stick or ball. Climbing to heaven – a Northern Swedish shepherd’s game In 1908 the Swedish ethnologist Nils Keyland described of a peasant game which may be regarded as a sort of vertical race game.(4) This Northern Swedish shepherd’s game is testified from Värmland, Dalarna, Jämtland, as well as from the northernmost Swedish regions: Norrbotten and Västerbotten where it was known as fårhimmel “sheep heaven” (Fig. 2 and 3). In Dalarna it was called att kappas till gudsrike or klättra till himla “competing for the kingdom of God” or “climbing to heaven”. The game was also known in Estonia and in Finland, where it was called himmelsstegen “the ladder to heaven”.(5) I have not been able to find any references to other games of this type.

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