Hnefatafl with board and game pieces

Hnefatafl is a traditional Nordic board game. Its Icelandic name comes from the words hnefi (“the king in chess”) and tafl (“game board”). In English, it is sometimes called King’s Table.

The game has a long history and is considered a predecessor of chess. Findings indicate that a variant of the game existed in Scandinavia as early as around 400 AD. It is played by two players on a board with an uneven number of squares, where the pieces move in the same way as the rook in chess—horizontally or vertically, without jumping over other pieces or moving diagonally.

One player controls a king and tries to move him to one of the board’s corners, while the opponent uses their pieces to block and prevent the king’s escape.