Board Games at Cyningstan

Welcome!

Here at Cyningstan we have a threefold interest in board games. We make them to sell, we bring them to the web, and we disseminate knowledge about how to play them. On this site we bring all three aspects to you. The gaming counter links at the top of this page allow you to view the games you can buy, the games you can play on-line and those you can read about.

News/Blog

20 May 2012: Bagh Chal available for Android

This month a new version of bagh chal has been released for Android devices, called Punjitam. Bagh Chal is an ancient hunt board game from Nepal. Its name means “moving tigers”, and the game represents a battle between four extravagant tigers and twenty deceitful goats. (Read more...)

19 May 2012: Indian Grandmaster Champions Chess at Home

World chess champion Vishwanathan Anand is defending his title at a tournament taking place in Russia. Having won three times since 2007, Anand has become a celebrity in his (and the game's) home country of India. His triple win has made him a role model for children all across the country, and as a result chess is now being played more widely there than before. (Read more...)

14 May 2012: Roman Backgammon Comes to iOS

An ancient form of backgammon is now available to owners of the iPhone and the iPad tablet computer. The game is an implementation of Tabula, a development of the earlier game Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum that lead to the modern backgammon family of games. (Read more...)

09 May 2012: New Twitter Account for Board Games

Damian decided that it's time this site stopped sharing his personal account on Twitter for updates. So now the site has a Twitter feed of its own! The account will help Twitter users keep up to date with news about this site and traditional board games in general. (Read more...)

25 Apr 2012: European Backgammon Tour Begins

Today sees the start of the 2012 European Backgammon Tour, a series of tournaments in which sixteen players compete for a prize of 20,000 euros. The series continues till late in the year. Starting in Lefkosa in Cyprus, the tournament will also take in Munich, Lisbon and Istanbul. (Read more...)

10 Apr 2012: Tournaments Begin in Japan

Two tournaments for board games important to Japanese culture are about to begin. The 70th meijin (grand master) shogi tournament starts today, and in another five days the 67th Honinbo title for go will begin. (Read more...)

Random Game: Dara

Dara is an interesting game, part of a family of games sometimes known as shiva, which are played across the Sahara and neighbouring parts of North Africa. The games are played on a lattice of 5×6 or 6×6 playing spaces, usually consisting of small holes in the ground. Pieces may be stones or broken pottery. The games resemble nine men's morris in play, which is very ancient. But written accounts of Shiva games date back no earlier than 1909. Dara is the most well-known game from this family. It is played by the Dakarkari people of Nigeria, and under the name of dra by the Tamacheq people of the Sahara. This particular game was first recorded as recently as 1950. (Read more...)

Keeping in Touch

You can email us at the address boardgames@cyningstan.org.uk. Or to keep updated about what we're doing, you can follow us using one of the social media sites below.