By Sheila O’Kelly 

When I played board games with my grandchildren during the summer months, I was reminded of my childhood days sitting at the kitchen table playing board games with my siblings during the festive season and on long winter nights.

We played Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Draughts and Bingo. Despite arguments and accusations of cheating, we had lots of fun. My father (RIP) enjoyed playing Chess and when our uncle Mick visited our home on winter nights, smoke curled into the kitchen air from his pipe and from dad’s cigarettes while they pondered over their next move on the chessboard.

One of my favourite board games was Solitaire. I remember one Christmas Eve my father bored holes in an old round breadboard, placed marbles in the holes and taught us how to play the game.

The origin of these board games dates back centuries ago. Around the 6th century, Pachisi or Ludo was established in ancient India. In 1896, the game was modified and patented as Ludo. Snakes and Ladders also originated in ancient India.

Its original name was Moksha-Patam with the ladders representing virtues and the snakes representing evil.
In 1100, a Frenchman had the idea of playing Draughts on a chessboard. He discovered that making jumps mandatory made the game more challenging. The rules for Draughts were set and the game has retained its popularity. The earliest form of Chess was known as Chaturanga and can be dated back to the 6th century.

The pieces originally represented the military unit in commom warfare at that time: Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants, Chariots, A General and a King. Bingo, or Beano as it was known then, originated in Italy in the 16th century and was widely used as an educational game to teach children spelling and multiplication tables. It is believed that during a game a player in anniticpation of winning shouted out Bingo instead of Beano and so the name Bingo was adopted.

Monopoly remains one of the most popular board games with adults and children alike. It can be traced back to American writer and game designer, Elizabeth Magie Philips, who, in 1903, invented a board game, The Landlord’s Game. She patented the game the following year.

When American businessman, Charles Darrow discovered the game, and after obtaining a written set of its rules, he modified it he sold his version to Parker Brothers who published the game in 1935 as Monopoly.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own