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The rules for tablut were written down by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus in 1732, and these were translated from Latin to English in 1811. Tafl gaming was eventually supplanted by chess in the 12th century, but the tafl variant of the Sámi people, tablut, was in play until at least the 18th century. Games in the tafl family were played in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and Sápmi. Names of different variants of Tafl include Hnefatafl, Tablut, Tawlbwrdd, Brandubh, Ard Rí, and Alea Evangelii.
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Most probably they are based upon the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum. Tafl games ( pronounced, also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Northern European strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers.
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