Traditional Viking games?

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spaceviking
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Traditional Viking games?

Post by spaceviking »

So I am running an option course at a middle school called world history-Vikings and I thought it might be a fun activity to do a viking games unit. So far finding material has been difficult, does anyone know any resources on traditional Scandinavian games? (Most of what I have found is wrestling, Kubb, and this drowning people games.)
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Thanas
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Re: Traditional Viking games?

Post by Thanas »

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madd0ct0r
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Re: Traditional Viking games?

Post by madd0ct0r »

there's a few variants of tafl, but agreed, it's a good game: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/you-ha ... f088ae4e2d
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LaCroix
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Re: Traditional Viking games?

Post by LaCroix »

Apart from drunk poem reciting and throwing bones at each other until someone is hurt, hnefatafl is certainly the most prominent thing, skill at it was highly valued.
There is also a kind of rugby game, which also included bats (Knattleikr), of which the rules are forgotten, but it was so rough that people still seen fit for warfare were sometimes being excluded because they weren't fit enough for that game. :roll:

Or some game with pot scrapers, which was even more lethal... :shock:

Nordic games were nothing for pussies, it seems...
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Re: Traditional Viking games?

Post by Purple »

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You win. There, I have said it.

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madd0ct0r
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Re: Traditional Viking games?

Post by madd0ct0r »

Rugby with sticks sounds a little like shinti. Played that at school. One broken arm and one split skull in 3 years.
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