Gwyddbwyll and Tallfwrdd, old Welsh board games

Long before chess came to Europe from India, the British Celts played board games in which the goal was to capture a central “king” piece. Two variants of this game existed, Gwyddbwyll and Tallfwrdd.

Gwyddbwyll, which literally means ‘wooden wisdom’ (and is thus related to the Irish game fidchell) and is known primarily from mythological sources. In fact, the game appears in three of the Welsh epics known as the Mabinogon: The Dream of Magnus Maximus, Peredur son of Efrawg and the Dream of Rhonabwy.

In terms of popular belief, gwyddbwyll is played on a 7×7 board and this relates to the Ballinderry game board found in 1932 during the excavation of a ‘crannog’ or loch dwelling at Ballinderry, West Meath, Ireland. It appears that the game was played with a king and four princes (or defenders) against eight opponents (or raiders).

The king is placed in the center of the board, flanked by four princes. The object of the game is to move the king to the safety of one of the corner squares. Eight attackers are evenly spaced along the edges of the board. The king wins by moving from the central space to one of the corners of the board and only the king can enter the central space at any time. The king loses if the attackers surround him or if all the princes are lost. The capture of the princes or attackers is achieved by blocking the opponent’s piece between two of your own. However, a piece can move between two opposing pieces without being captured. Each piece can only move one orthogonal space at a time (ie only forwards or backwards). If not occupied by the king, the center square counts as an additional ‘man’, ie any piece (except the king) sandwiched between it and another piece is captured. The king can also be captured at the edge of the board by just three opposing pieces. Which means that if the attackers are reduced to just two men, the king’s side has won by default.

In contrast, Tallfwrdd (literally pegboard) [though the name can also be derived from tafl ‘to throw’, referring to the die with which the board is played]) is known from historical sources. It is described in the Cyfrraith Hywel Dda (The Laws of Hywel Dda) which specifies the value of a towlbwrdd to be provided to various members of a king’s court (and may not be sold or given away), as well as the value of the towlbwrdd of the king; the latter “is worth six score pence, and that is apportioned thus: sixty pence to the white forces, and… thirty pence to the king, and… three pence and three quarters to each man.” Which would seem to imply that the game was played with a king and eight ‘princes’ or ‘defenders’ against sixteen ‘attackers’.

Further details are given in Robert ap Ifan’s 1587 manuscript in Elizabethan Wales, which provides us with a sketch of a ‘towlbwrdd’ board as an 11×11 square. and a description of the setup and gameplay which is unfortunately inconsistent with the above information in that it pits a king and twelve men against twenty-four men (although it is at least consistent with balancing the king against half the men ) The setup calls for the king to be placed in the center of the board with his own men on the squares closest to him and the opposing men in the middle of each side, an ambiguous description at best.

This current interpretation is an 11×11 board with a central king surrounded by twelve princes or defenders. Each side of the board starts with six blue attackers, giving a total of 24. The center square is important as it can only be occupied by the king, although other pieces can cross it, as long as he is unoccupied. The game takes place in alternate turns, and although the existing documentation does not describe who should move first, it would seem natural for the attacker to do so (after all, the king is defending against an attack). The king also has an inherent advantage in the game and giving the attacker the first move helps reduce this.

All pieces move orthogonally (ie forwards or backwards like the rook in chess). They can move any number of squares, but they cannot jump over another piece and the square they move to must also be empty.

Any man (other than the king) can be captured by getting between two opponents (ie when two of the opponent’s men occupy adjacent squares in a straight line with him). Some variants of the game allow pieces to move on squares between opposing men without being captured, but others do not. It is also unclear whether the king can participate in the captures; although the game is more even if this form of capture is not allowed. Also, as no other piece apart from the king can occupy the center square, it may be possible to use it as an extra man and pieces can be captured by sandwiching them.

The king’s side wins if the king reaches any edge and the king also wins by default if the attackers are reduced to three or fewer men. The attackers can only win by capturing the king; surrounding him on all four sides with his men. However, a variant based on gwyddbwyll would allow the attackers to win if all the princes (the king’s defenders) have been removed from the board.

There should be enough information here for you to rebuild the games, but if you need more information and images, use the links below: