Game Board Concepts

An exploration of custom designs for classic, ancient, and traditional game boards, with some experimental &/or pop culture inspired stuff mixed in.

[gameboardconcepts]

AI Game Board Prompt 6

prompt: "abstract ancient game board that is a remix of royal game of ur"

[gameboardconcepts]

AI Game Board Prompt 5

Prompt: "ancient board game with elements of backgammon, chess, senet, pachisi, and game of ur done in egyptian, sumerian, or persian style"

[gameboardconcepts]

AI Game Board Prompt 4

This prompt: “royal game of ur board with cubist imagery for the spaces”

[gameboardconcepts]

AI Game Board Prompt 3

This prompt: “game board that incorporates elements of the game of knossos and the royal game of ur”

[gameboardconcepts]

AI game board prompt: Round 2

This prompt was: “2-6 player symmetrical game board radial design with multiple paths”

[gameboardconcepts]

Playing with AI-generated prompts

I've been curious about AI-generated art, so I went ahead and made a few game board prompts in DALL-E. If you're not familiar with DALL-E, one prompt generates four images.

This prompt was: “asymmetric cross-and-circles game board with trapezoidal spaces”

[gameboardconcepts]

OK, as long as we're talking triangles, Here's a board concept that is based on the game Chula featured in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Move Along Home". In the episode, the board is 3-dimensional, resembling an inverted tetrahedron. The dice are cropped-tip d4 (tetrahedrons), represented here by the cropped triangles at the "ends" of each level.

[gameboardconcepts]

I doodled around with the idea of a triangular checkerboard a while back, but never posted it (sorry - it’s been a long dry spell). I dusted it off and added a bit of color and thought I’d post it to get this experiment rolling again.

[gameboardconcepts]

13. Radial Backgammon+

This board started as an idea for a Backgammon board in a star configuration, rather than spikes protruding from opposite sides of the board. But then I threw in some elements of checker/chess boards, and then the circles were added when the spikes reminded me of a clock face.

[gameboardconcepts]

12. KARAK [karakænztein] (first concept draft)

Jumping back in to this blog, this is a rough concept that came from a vivid dream I had the other night. Worth exploring further, but I thought I’d post my initial rough notes after waking here.

[gameboardconcepts]

11a. [TriHexaCircle +] (experiment)

This is a slightly expanded version of the previous board concept. I made this modification to accommodate a game idea that a fellow member of the Abstract Nation abstract board game group on Facebook had started playing around with.

[gameboardconcepts]

11. [TriHexaCircle] (experiment)

This is an original board design. I have no other information or guidance, other than the board itself. The name is just a temporary placeholder.

What games can you think of to play on this board? What pieces would you use? This is just an experiment put out there to hopefully inspire some ideas.

If you’re inspired, please share your game ideas here. Have fun!

[gameboardconcepts]

10. Morabaraba

A traditional African game, Morabaraba is played on the same board as 12 Men’s Morris. This particular board can be used to play Morabaraba, 12 Men’s Morris, 9 Men’s Morris (ignore the diagonal lines), and 6 Men’s Morris (only play on the burgundy lines and spaces).

More about Morabaraba on africa-games.com: https://bit.ly/1P4UMNz

Morabaraba on Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2BuQ0WU

[gameboardconcepts]

09: Lambs & Tigers

This is an “alternate” board for the traditional South Indian game Lambs & Tigers (Aadu Huli aata). One player plays three “tiger” pieces, and the other plays 15 “lamb” pieces.

Read how to play (Goats) and Tigers here: https://bit.ly/2r6Itu6

More on Lambs & Tigers on Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2TP1Gxo

[gameboardconcepts]

08: Seega

Seega is an ancient Egyptian board game for two.

Learn more about Seega at ancientgames.org.

[gameboardconcepts]

Day 07: Pente Grammai

Pente Grammai (aka: The Game of Five Lines) is an ancient Greek strategy game.

Click here for extensive information on Pente Grammai at ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/2DZ2D1F

Here’s a demonstration of Pente Grammai on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2FK9Ow6

[gameboardconcepts]

Day 06: Alquerque

Whenever I play checkers (aka: draughts – I always wondered...is that pronounced “drots”, or “drafts”?), I always get an image in my head of stereotypical grandpas playing the game against each other, or perhaps against a grandchild. Well, Alquerque could be considered the “grandpa” of Checkers itself.

Alquerque (aka: Quirkat) is an ancient board game thought to have originated in the Middle East.

Read more about Alquerque on Wikipedia.

Here’s more about Alquerque at ancientgames.org.