Games from the World
On this page, we’ve tried to identify games and game types that originate from outside Europe or are associated with a particular country or ethnic group.
We have a range of beautiful wooden Mancala/ Oware games from Africa. Best for schools would be the pencil starter set, which comes with authentic Bonduc seeds as the playing pieces.
Shogi is the Japanese version of Chess. The primary difference is that when pieces are captured they can be re-entered onto the board playing for the opposing side.
The most popular game in the world. Chinese Chess is an interesting game to learn and has a couple of twists that do not feature in European Chess.
Crokinole is a Canadian game invented in the 1870s. Points are scored by flicking disks as near to the central hole as possible. The added twist that makes the game so engrossing is that your disk must move the disk last flicked by your opponent.
So many board games came originally from the Indian subcontinent including Chess, Snakes & Ladders and Pachisi or Ludo and not forgetting Tigers & Goats from Nepal. Other fantastic games such as Carrom and Snooker were also invented in India.
Go, or Wei Chi, from Japan & China. A beautiful game that appears simple but is actually more complex than Chess. Our full range includes boards, stones & complete sets.
Mahjong, Dominoes and Playing cards all originated in ancient China, not to mention the venerable board games Go and Xiang Qi.