Note: The images and concepts on this
homepage and subsequent pages are copyrighted: copyright 1996
P.S. Neeley, all rights reserved.
Good woman, these dark
eyes --
Icelandic ones -- have
shown me
The long and uphill road
Towards that glittering
gold
This foot of mine, my
goddess,
Has stepped so valiantly
Over ancient pathways .
. .
(Verses from Snorri
Sturluson's Heimskringla )
Halatafl -- The Fox Game -- for Windows. A
game of the ancient Icelandic Vikings
It begins with the sound of weeping in the night, and ends
with a prayer spoken over a lonely grave . . . It is about a
little girl laid to rest 1000 years ago, a prized silver brooch,
and a final bond of love. . . It is about a hapless kayaker,
theft, repentance, and mourning . . . . . . It is a story of the
Vikings . . . but for all of this it is really not a sad game at
all . . . for it is an adventure in which a little Viking girl,
happy to have finally found a playing partner, teaches a traveler
how to play a favorite game -- Halatafl, The Fox Game. As they
play and talk, Gudrun describes the life of a Viking and
entertains with stories of the Vikings of old . . .
'Halatafl -- The Fox Game' is the most ancient form of 'Fox
and Geese', one of the most popular 'Hunt' games of ancient
Europe.
It appears to be an Icelandic Viking, or at least a
Scandinavian game, that spread to Northern Europe and then all of
Europe before 1000 AD. It was known as 'Fuchs im Huhnerhof' in
Germany, 'Schaap en wolf' in the Netherlands, 'Voli i ovtsy' in
Russia, and 'lupo e pecore' in Italy.
It is mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas as 'Halatafl' which
means 'The Fox Game'. Some Historians believe it is also the game
called 'Freystafl' mentioned in the later Sagas. In the accounts
of the royal household of Edward IV of England (around 1460 AD.,
the time of 'The War of Roses') is recorded that 'two foxis and
26 hounds of silver overgilt' were purchased to form two sets of
'Marelles'. This is probably the same form of 'Fox and Geese' as
found here.
The most ancient form of the game used 13 geese pitted
against a single fox -- exactly the configuration used here. But
'Fox and Geese' is known to be an unbalanced game with the
strength on the 'Geese' side (a competent player can lose one or
two Geese and still win handily). Different board configurations
-- 15 Geese, which cannot move backwards, against one fox, 18
Geese against 1 fox on a 46 cell board, 24 Geese against 2 foxes,
etc. -- were used in latter centuries, perhaps in attempts to
more closely balance the game. The game can be 'exactly'
balanced, however, by using the concept of simultaneous games. By
playing two games at once, with each player taking the Fox
position in one game and the Geese position in the other, the
task becomes to win as quickly as possible with the Geese while
holding out as long as possible with the Fox -- a challenging and
complex task.
'Halatafl -- The Fox Game' was played in ancient Europe since
at least before 1000 AD. Now it is here again in the present,
re-created through the magic of electrons and phosphorus, for you
to play. Welcome to a game of the ancient Vikings -- Harold the
Ruthless, Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky, and now you!
Download it right from here
(halatafl.zip -- 734 Kb)
Interested in just the rules and history of the game?
Then download just the Windows Help file if
you'd like.
Note: This program requires VBRUN300.DLL
to exist on your system.
To learn more about the Vikings, please click on one of the
following links:
The Vikings had a 'code of conduct' called the Havamal.
Also, don't forget the Sagas, which are treasures of world
literature. Halatafl again contains excerpts, but you can find a
number of English translations on the web. Try one of the
following to get your feet wet:
Saga of
Grettir the Strong
The Life
and Death of Cormac the Skald ("Kormak's Saga")
The Story of
Burnt Njal (Njal's Saga)
Finally, if you'd like to learn more about Rune Stones, please
visit Halfdan's site:
Halfdan's Page
on Viking Runes & Futharks
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