Alea Evangelii

Alea Evangelii is a game known from a single Irish manuscript, probably dating from the 11th century. The manuscript mentions the game as having been played at the Saxon court in the 10th century. Judging from the diagram in the manuscript, the game is clearly a member of the hnefatafl family, played on a 19 x 19 grid.

Years ago, I had a plan to make my own alea evangelii set using glass pebbles as pieces, and using a jigsaw to create a wooden grid. That plan never came to fruition ...

Recently, I picked up the idea again, and got myself two bags of glass pebbles, coloured red and green ...

... plus a red glass marble, which I mounted on a rubber washer, to be used as the king piece.

For the board, I happened to have a bamboo xiangqi board, which has a go board at the other side ...

... and go happens to be played on a 19 x 19 grid!

So here's my alea evangelii set on that bamboo go board.

I think it works really well with the glass pebbles.

Nice to see an old idea finally become reality!