HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sáhkku is a
board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
of the
Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
. The game is traditional among the North Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Inari Sámi and Lule Sámi but may also have been played in other parts of
Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, boun ...
.


Rules

Sáhkku is a
running-fight game Running-fight games are board games that essentially combine the ''method'' of race games (such as backgammon or pachisi) and the ''goal'' of elimination-based games such as chess or draughts. Like race games, pieces are moved along linear tracks ...
, which means that players move their pieces along a track with the goal of eliminating the other players' pieces. Many different variants of sáhkku have been played in different parts of Sápmi. The oral transfer of the sáhkku rules between generations was largely broken off during the 1900s (see Sáhkku today). A few of the local variants have survived into our time, other local variants have been reconstructed based on a combination of memories and written sources, and for some places only fragments of the local rules are known from old documents.


Board

A sáhkku board (''sáhkkufiellu'', ''bircunfiellu'' or ''sáhkkulávdi'') can traditionally be designed in a number of different ways. At its simplest, a sáhkku board has three parallel rows of short lines, and the pieces are placed on these lines. The lines are called ''sárgat'' (one ''sárggis'') in Sámi. It is common to draw the short lines as vertically connected to each other, so that the board appears to consist of just one row of very long lines, but the game is still played as if these were three separate rows of short lines. Such boards often also have three horizontal lines intersecting the vertical lines in order to illustrate that the lines are still in practice divided into three parallel rows. Some boards feature only a central horizontal line crossing the connected vertical lines, but the game is still played as if there were three rows of short lines. A special type of sáhkku board is the so-called Návuotna board which has three rows of squares (''ruvttat'', ''lanjat'') instead of lines. The central line/square of the middle row, sometimes referred to as "the Castle", is indicated by a ''sáhkku''-symbol ("X"), sun symbol, or other ornament.


Pieces

The game features several ''gálgut'' ("women") and ''olbmát'' ("men"), and one ''gonagas'' ("king"). The men and women are collectively referred to as “soldiers” in most variants. The most common number of soldiers on each side is fifteen, but the number has varied according to the length of the board. The smallest number of soldiers described as being used is eight (
Boris Gleb Borisoglebsky (; ; ) is a rural locality (a '' Posyolok'') in Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. The village is located beyond the Arctic Circle, at a height of 95 meters above sea level on the Paatsjoki River. There is a border cr ...
), and the highest is twenty. The latter is described as being "used in the Finnmark fisheries”, without any further geographic specification.Borvo 2001, p. 43 Sáhkku pieces produced in accordance with traditional Sámi boardgame ''duodji'' (handicraft) are not disc-shaped like pieces in Checkers and Backgammon, but "standing" pieces more akin to Chess pieces. In the simplest design type, each piece's top ends in a sharpened “pyramid” which for the women has a notch cut into it. It is also possible to "elaborate" on this notch so that the female pieces effectively have two "horns" that stick out to each their side. Another tradition is to cut the tops in the shapes of traditional Sámi hats from the area where the game is produced, for example cone-shaped tops for the men and hooked-shaped tops for the women, symbolizing the traditional North Sámi ''laddjogahpir'' hat which disappeared at the end of the 1800s because Christian missionaries and evangelists attacked the design for being a symbol of “the Devil’s horn”. As for the shape of the king, this varies a lot between game sets. At its simplest, the king piece is a tall, slender "pyramid" with four sides. More often, ornaments are cut into the sides. Many of the king pieces are so elaborately carved that the pyramidal shape is only suggested.Borvo 2001, p. 44


Setup

At the beginning of the game, rows of men and women face each other on opposite rows of short lines (one ''sárggis'', multiple ''sárgát''). The Castle is occupied by the king. Dice are thrown to determine who begins the game. The player who first throws a sáhkku (X) may start.


Dice

The
dice A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...
used for sáhkku are four-faced
long dice Long dice (sometimes oblongFinkel 2004, p 39. or stick dice) are dice, often roughly right Prism (geometry), prisms or (in the case of barrel dice) antiprisms, designed to land on any of several marked lateral faces, but neither end. Landing on e ...
or "stick dice". They are shaped like slightly elongated cubes whose short ends are sharpened to points so that they can only land on four of their sides. One side of each die bears the mark "X", the ''sáhkku'' symbol. The numbers on the other sides of the die have been known to vary. A common combination is X-II-III-0, but many other combinations have been known to exist.Borvo 2000, p. 42 The number of dice used has also varied, three being a rather usual number.Friis 1871: 164-167 The dice are traditionally thrown in a bowl, rather than on the table.


Movement

Pieces are moved in accordance with values shown on the dice after a throw. Some rule sets demand that the player utilize die values in a certain order such as f.ex. X-III-II-0, while other rule sets do not mention any such rule. One may choose to move one piece several times during one's turn, or to use the values of the different dice to move several soldiers. In some variants, several pieces are allowed to occupy the same ''sárggis'' (short line), while in other rule sets this is unclear or explicitly forbidden.


The soldiers

When the game begins, the soldiers are inactive — that is, unable to move. A player can activate a soldier by throwing a sáhkku. When activated, a soldier is moved one ''sárggis'' ahead. Local rules differ regarding whether activation is forced or free - i.e. if soldiers have to be activated in turn, starting with the player's foremost soldier, and continuing towards the back, or if any soldier in the home row may be activated regardless of its place in the row. After activation, dice are used to determine how many ''sárgát'' soldiers can move ahead during their turn. The soldiers move in a set pattern or across the board. The shape of this "track" differs from variant to variant.


The king

Rules for using the sáhkku king differ between local variants. In all variants the king begins neutral, not controlled by either player.


Recruiting the king

In nearly all variants, the king is recruited by a player who moves one of their pieces onto the ''sárggis'' currently occupied by the king. There are also some known historical variants where the king can be recruited in other ways.


Moving the king

Several different rules for how one may move the king exist. The following overview is not exhaustive. * (A) The king moves like the soldiers of the player who currently controls it. * (B) The king moves backwards or forwards. * (C) The king can move orthogonally right, left, up, and down.


The fate of the king

What happens to the king during the course of the game is also subject to variation. In most variants of sáhkku, the loyalty of the king can change during the course of the game. The player not currently playing with the king may, for example, recruit it by moving a soldier onto the ''sárggis'' currently occupied by it. The king then becomes part of that player's army, until it is recruited by the opposing player again. In nearly all variants of the game, the king cannot itself be captured, only recruited.Michaelsen 2000, p. 22-25


Capturing soldiers

The object of the game is to capture all of the opponent's soldiers, that is, to remove them from the board. An opponent's soldier is captured when a player moves a soldier, or the recruited king, onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by the opponent. If the ''sárggis'' in question is occupied by several opposing soldiers (in the cases where such "cohabitation" is allowed), all those soldiers are captured. A captured soldier is removed from the board, and not entered again. In Sámi, the act of capturing a soldier is referred to as ''goddit'' - "to kill". In some areas, the rules prohibited the capture of inactive soldiers, while in other areas the capture of inactive soldiers has been allowed, or the rules were unclearly written. It is unknown what was the most widespread, or original, rule.Borvo 2001: p. 49-52


Third piece types

Some variants of the game include other pieces in addition to the king and soldier pieces. In the only surviving variant that has such pieces - ''Lágesvuotna sáhkku'' - these are called "queens". Researchers have earlier called such "third pieces" in sáhkku game sets "king's children",Michaelsen 2000, p. 28 theorizing that the pieces were imported from another Sámi board game, dablo, which has such pieces. The queens in ''Lágesvuona sáhkku'', do however have an entirely different function than the dablo king's children.


Variants


Lágesvuotna sáhkku

Lágesvuotna sáhkku is a reconstruction of the type of sáhkku played in the Lágesvuotna area. The reconstruction was made by local elder Edmund Johansen.


Design

The game uses a standard sáhkku board, i.e. an elongated board upon which is drawn three rows of fifteen ''sárgát'' (short, vertical lines - singular ''sárggis''), on which the pieces may stand. The middle ''sárggis'' on the middle row is "the Castle" (''Šloahtta''), marked by a sun symbol or other symbol. On each side of the Castle, five ''sárgát'' away, are two ''sárgát'' marked by an X (sáhkku symbol) or other symbol.


Board and setup

There are 3×15 ''sárgát''. As the game begins, 15 soldiers are placed on the 15 ''sárgát'' that constitute their player's "home row". The soldiers are called "men" and "women" (''olbmát'' and ''gálgut''). Each side's army is led by a queen (''dronnet''), which the players place on the rightmost X-marked ''sárggis'' on the middle row. The king (''gonagas''), which begins neutral, is placed in the Castle.


Dice

There are three dice, inscribed with X-III-II-blank. X signifies "move an activated piece 1 ''sárggis''", "activate a piece", or "rethrow die". The latter means that when a player throws X, they are allowed to rethrow the X-giving die in the hope of getting another value, and may rethrow again until the die lands on another value than X. It is not optional which die value is used first. One must first use the dice showing X, then use the ones showing III, and following this use the ones showing II. If you have a III that you can't use to perform a legal move, and a II that you could have performed a legal move with, then you can't use the II.


The soldiers' movement

Soldiers must be activated in order - rightmost soldier first. Unactivated soldiers can't be moved and can't be captured. It is never allowed to move a piece onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by an unactivated soldier. The soldiers' "track" is that they move to the right on their home row, to the left on the middle row, and to the right on the enemy row. If a soldier should survive the enemy row, it moves onto the middle row and walks towards the left again. When it reaches the middle row's end for the second time, it must move down instead of up. It goes back into the home row and repeats the movement pattern. If you lose all your soldiers, you have lost the game.


The king's movement

The king moves similarly to what is described under (C). It may move orthogonally up and down, by using exact die values: from the home row it needs II to cross directly over to the enemy row, and X to cross directly over to the middle row, while from the middle row it needs X to cross over to the home row or enemy row. Also, the king may move both forwards and backwards within the "8"-shaped movement pattern of the soldiers.


Recruiting the king

When the game begins, the king is neutral. When you move a soldier or queen of yours onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by the king, you recruit it. From now on, you may use it as your own piece. The king may never be captured, but can be recruited back by your opponent at any time.


The queen's movement

The queen moves just like the king. When the game begins, the queen is unactivated. This means that she can't be moved and can't be captured, and no piece may be placed on the ''sárggis'' where she stands. She may be activated by using a sáhkku (X). Her activation move may be up, down, left, or right - dependent on what moves are legal for her in the concrete situation. Unlike the king, the queen can be captured just like an ordinary soldier. If you lose your queen, you have lost the game.


Cohabitation

There may be several active soldiers on one ''sárggis'', but all of them are captured if an enemy piece is moved onto the ''sárggis'' where they stand. A royal piece may ''not'' share a ''sárggis'' with any other piece. The only exception to this rule is that you can move your soldier or queen onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by the enemy-controlled king, upon which you recruit the king. In no other circumstance is it legal to move another piece onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by a royal piece, or to move a royal piece onto a ''sárggis'' currently occupied by a piece that is part of its own army. The rule stating that a royal piece cannot share a ''sárggis'' with another piece in its own army, and the above-mentioned rule stating that a ''sárggis'' where an unactivated piece stands may not be entered by any active piece, have the effect that royal pieces are not very mobile in the beginning of a sáhkku game, but as pieces are activated or captured, the royal pieces become increasingly free to move around on the board.


Vuovdaguoika or Gávkevuotna sáhkku

This version of sáhkku is traditional both to the Vuovdaguoika area in Ohcejohka on the Finnish side of Sápmi, and by the fiord Gávkevuotna near North Cape on the Norwegian side of Sápmi. It is likely that it was played in several other locations between these two villages. Unlike Lágesvuotna sáhkku, which is a reconstructed game, and Návuotna sáhkku, the rules of which were written down before the game went out of play for some decades - this variant of sáhkku has been transferred between the generations in an unbroken line until today. The rules were also documented during the 1970s by the Sámi author Oahpt'ii Hánsa (Hans A. Guttorm) who had learnt the game from his father.Berg-Nordlie 2018


Design

The design of the game set is fundamentally similar to that of Lágesvuotna sáhkku.


Board and setup

There are 3×15 ''sárgát''. As the game begins, 15 soldiers are placed on the 15 ''sárgát'' that constitute their player's "home row". The soldiers can be called "men and women", and may also be referred to collectively as the players' ''soahteveagat'' (armies). There is no queen in play in this variant. The king (''gonagas''), which begins neutral, is placed in the Castle.


Dice

There are three dice, inscribed with X-III-II-blank. X (''sáhkku'' or ''ruossa'') signifies "move an activated piece 1 ''sárggis''" or "activate a piece". Dice may only be rethrown if a player gets 3*X. Blank signifies "move four" instead of "no move". You may use the dice in any order you like.


The soldiers' movement

Soldiers must be activated in order - frontmost soldier first. Unlike in Lágesvuotna sáhkku, unactivated soldiers may very well be captured. It is not allowed to move a piece onto a ''sárggis'' occupied by a soldier in your own army. Furthermore, a soldier may not jump (move past) a soldier of its own army. Players may agree to not use this rule, before initiating a game. The moving pattern of the soldiers is different from that of Lágesvuotna sáhkku. Soldiers move towards the right in their home row, left on the middle row, and towards the right in the enemy row - but upon returning from the enemy's home row and having for the second time traversed the middle row, the soldiers head back up into the enemy's home row again, and never return to their own home row. This moving pattern is called ''vuosttut''. The game can also be played ''mieđut''. In the latter case, one player follows the pattern described above but the other player moves in the opposite direction: left in the home row, right in the middle row, left in the enemy row. This leads the players' soldiers to "chase" one another across the middle row and enter each other's home rows "from behind".


The king's movement

The king moves as described in the rules under (A) - as an ordinary soldier. The main exception is that, unlike a normal soldier, it may pass (jump) soldiers of its own army. Also, it has a special "ramming" feature that will be explained below.


Recruiting the king

When the game begins, the king is neutral. When you move a soldier onto a point occupied by the king, you recruit it. From now on, you may use it as your own piece. The king may never be captured, but can be recruited back by your opponent at any time. When moving a soldier onto the spot occupied by the king - no matter who it currently belongs to - the soldier "pushes" (''cadjat'') the king one ''sárggis'' ahead. If an enemy soldier is on this sárggis, the king "rams" it and it is captured.


Navuotna sáhkku

This version of sáhkku is traditional to the Návuotna fiord in North
Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...
. It exists in two sub-variants, one known as Ráisa sáhkku and the other as
Máze , , or is a village in Kautokeino Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located along the river Kautokeinoelva, a tributary of the Alta river. about south of the town of Alta and about 60 kilometres north of the village of ...
sáhkku. The rules were written down in the 1950s by the researcher Yngvar Mejland from Ráisa. During the 1980s, a local variant was developed in the Inner
Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
village Máze.Berg-Nordlie 2018b


Design

The Návuotna sáhkku board is designed with squares, as in chess, instead of ''sárgát''. The king is often topped with a bishop's crook.


Board and setup

There are 3×13 squares, with twelve soldiers on each of the sides' home rows. In the starting position, the rightmost square (from the player's perspective) is left open. In the Máze variant, the soldiers are referred to as ''áhkut'' (grandmothers) and ''ádját'' (grandfathers), and when inactive they are placed "face down" (lying) on their places. They are then said to be "sleeping" (''oađđit'') and activating them is referred to as "waking" them (''boktet'').


Dice

Návuotna sáhkku calls for two dice, instead of three. The dice show X-I-II-III. X signifies "move an activated piece 1 square", "activate a piece", or "rethrow die". The latter means that when a player throws X, they are allowed to rethrow the X-giving die in the hope of getting another value, and may rethrow again until the die lands on another value than X. In the Ráisa variant it is not optional which dice value is used first. One must first use the dices showing X, then use the ones showing I, following this use the ones showing II, and only then use the ones showing III.Mejland, 1953 In the Máze variant, the order in which one uses the dice is entirely optional. In terms of concrete rules, this is the only difference between the Máze and Ráisa variants of Návuotna sáhkku.


Soldiers' movement

Soldiers may be activated in whichever order the player desires. Unactivated soldiers may not move but may be captured. In the Máze variant, the capture of inactive pieces is referred to as "killing in the bedchambers" (''goddit oađđenlanjain''). Soldiers move towards the right in their home row, towards the left on the middle row, and towards the right in the enemy row. Upon returning from the enemy's home row and having for the second time traversed the middle row, the soldiers head back up into the enemy's home row again, never returning to their own home row.


King's movement

The king moves as described in the rules under (A) – as an ordinary soldier. If a player is left with only the king, they have lost the game. The king is hence a weaker piece than the ordinary soldiers, as the possession of a soldier prevents a player from losing but possession of the king does not.


Recruiting the king

When the game begins, the king is neutral. When you move a soldier onto a point occupied by the king, you recruit it. From now on, you may use it as your own piece. The king may never be captured, but can be recruited back by your opponent at any time.


History


Name

The North Sámi word "sáhkku", which is the name of both the game and the throw "X", means "
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny'' * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (p ...
", as in "mulct" or "penalty". Researchers have recorded that in one Lule Sámi area ( Huhttán) the verb for playing sáhkku was "sakkotet". This is akin to ''sáhkkudit'' in modern Lule Sámi spelling, which means "to fine". On the other hand, the North Sámi verb for playing sáhkku is ''sáhkostallat'', which has no other meaning. The reasoning behind this name has been subject to some speculation and debate. One theory, put forth by Edmund Johansen, a veteran player of the game, to the French researcher Alan Borvo, is that "fine" in this case is a
euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
for "offering", used to avoid the wrath of Christian priests and evangelists. Sáhkku was considered a sinful game by such people, who saw traces of Sámi pre-Christian worship in it, and called it "The Devil's Game". According to Johansen's theory, it was in fact correct that the "King" piece had earlier been seen by players as representing a non-Christian deity in the game, and that the men's and women's "recruiting" of it implicitly happens through offerings.
''...this king may perfectly well have meant god with the signification the Sámit give to that word, i.e. a natural power, neither good nor bad, with whom one has to deal anyway by making offerings. In our language sáhkku means ‘penalty’. You may know the Sámit often give things new names just to avoid the minister’s wrath, so they could say penalty while they really thought of offering.”''
In support of this theory, Borvo has noted similarities between some wood-constructed Sámi sieidis (objects that are sacrificed to) and the shapes given to certain sáhkku king pieces.Borvo 2001, p. 46-47 The game was also referred to as to play ''birccut'', which simply means to play "dice" in North Sámi. An alternative name for the game in Skolt Sámi, ''percc'', means the same. The word ''Sáhkku'' is not related to the vaguely similar names of
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
that derive from Old Persian (such as the German ''Schach'', from which the Finnish ''shakki'' and the Hungarian ''sakk'' were borrowed).


Related games

Sáhkku is part of a family of running-fight games that has its oldest traceable roots in the Eastern
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, and has been played at least since the 1300s. Members of this family bear obvious similarities to the Roman game tabula (the ancestor of
backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...
), and the playing boards often have similarities to the board of tabula's probable ancestor, the Roman game
XII scripta Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. T ...
. There has been much scholarly debate, but no conclusive answers, as to how the games has spread from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe.Depaulis “Arab game”, 2001, p. 82


African and Asian relatives

Tâb Tâb () is the name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and West Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Somalia, wher ...
(also known as ‘’deleb’’ or ‘’sîg’’) is a game played in northern
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and south-western
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
. A very similar game, tablan, is traditional to India. When compared to sáhkku, tâb has somewhat different rules for moving pieces, and uses sticks in place of dice. The board is often larger, using four rows instead of three, although variants played with three rows also occur in Northern Africa. Pieces can be stacked and moved together, on the risk that all but one of them are lost if the stack is placed on a point where one of the pieces have been before. There is no king or kings’ children present in the game – that feature is exclusive to sáhkku. The first description of a game which is certain to be tâb occurred in 1694, that is some decades after Schefferus' book ''Lapponia'' described the use of sáhkku dice in Sápmi (see below). However, a game assumed to be a predecessor of tâb was mentioned in a poem already in 1310. The researcher
Thierry Depaulis Thierry Depaulis (born 1949) is an independent historian of games and especially of playing cards, card games, and board games. He is President of the association ''Le Vieux Papier'', a member of the editorial board of the International Board Game ...
argues that the game was played “by the 10th century at least”.


European relatives

The game
daldøs Daldøs running-fight board game">ø">al'døs">ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døsis a Running-fight game">running-fight board game only known from a few coastal locations in southern Scandinavia, where its history can be traced back to around 18 ...
, played in parts of
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and southern
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, is an obvious relative of sáhkku and tâb. Daldøs uses dice that are more or less identical to the sáhkku dice. Its rules are more similar to Ráisá sáhkku than to how sáhkku is generally played, but still different enough to be described as a fundamentally other game than Ráisá sáhkku. In place of moving pieces on short lines or squares on a board, daldøs applies pegs that are moved from hole to hole on a board. Several pegs are not allowed to occupy the same hole (something that they obviously cannot, physically, do), and pegs belonging to the same player cannot pass one another. Furthermore, the pegs move in the same direction, as one player enters the middle row from the left, whereas the other enters the middle row from the right. The middle row is also one hole longer than the home rows, a similarity shared with a version of tâb played in Algeria. Finally, daldøs features neither a king, nor queens or for that matter "king's children". Daldøs is first mentioned in passing in a Danish work of fiction from 1876, the plot of which was set to the 1600s. The rules were not explained by the author, but an interested reader tracked down a person who knew the rules during the 1920s. The oldest surviving game set is no older than the early 1800s.Michaelsen 2001, p. 19-21 In addition to sáhkku and daldøs, one other traditional running-fight board game survives in Northern Europe: the Icelandic game ad elta stelpur. This game differs from both of the other two by, among other things, featuring only two rows. The pieces move in the same direction, chasing each other around the board.


The ancestor issue

It is generally assumed that tâb, daldøs and sáhkku have not developed separately, but are related to one another, and that the game has its origin in the Middle East. Several theories have been put forth as to how the tâb tradition travelled from such southern latitudes to the northernmost reaches of
Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, boun ...
. Borvo referred to three opportunities as the ‘’Pomor track’’, the ‘’Kven track’’, and the ‘’Viking track’’, while Depaulis argued for a ‘’Varangian track’’, and added a hypothetical ‘’Vandal track’’.


Eastern tracks

The ‘’Varangian track’’ favored by Depaulis posits that Vikings who travelled in Eastern and Southeastern Europe between the 800s and 1000s may have learnt a game of the tâb family in
Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...
, brought it home, and that daldøs and sáhkku developed out of this. Depaulis notes that objections to this theory include that there is no evidence that the tâb type of games existed in the Middle East at such an early point in history, and that the east-faring Vikings were mainly from contemporary
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, whereas daldøs and sáhkku are generally known to have been played only within the contemporary borders of Norway and Denmark - the confirmed exceptions to the latter being localities in Finland and Russia that were immediate neighbors to the Coast Sámi of Norway.Depaulis “Arab game” 2001, p. 77-81 The ‘’Pomor track’’ posits that a tâb-type game was introduced to the Sámi by Russian merchants through the
Pomor trade The Pomor trade (; ) was carried out between the Pomors of Northwest Russia and the people along the coast of northern Norway, as far south as Bodø (town), Bodø. The trade went on from 1740 until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Pomor tr ...
(ca. 1740-1917). The ‘’Kven track’’ suggests that the
Kvens Kvens (; ; ; ; ) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic group indigenous to the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. In 1996, Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minor ...
, immigrants from Finland who arrived in the 1700s and 1800s, brought the game with them. Sáhkku was generally played on the North Coast of Sápmi, the areas where the Sámi were most involved in the Pomor trade, and which were targeted by Kven immigration. Borvo notes that the absence of any traditional tâb-type game in Russia, except the sáhkku of the Russian Sámi, speaks against the Pomor track, and that the same applies for the Kven track since the
Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...
have no tâb-type games of their own. Depaulis additionally doubts the Kven and Pomor tracks because he finds it hard to imagine that the
Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...
and
Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...
based their daldøs game on the Sámi sáhkku game, but he does not give any arguments as to why this is any less likely than the opposite; nor does he address the possibility that daldøs and sáhkku could have developed separately, but with roots in the same Middle Eastern progenitor.


Western tracks

The ‘’Viking track’’ preferred by Borvo posits that west-faring Norse seafarers learnt the game in the south, adapted it to daldøs, and introduced the game to the Sámi, who again made sáhkku from that basis. If this is to have happened in the
Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
, táb-type games must be older than what written sources indicate. Depaulis adds to Borvo’s ‘’Viking track’’ theory by pointing to relationships between the Western Vikings (of contemporary Denmark and Norway) and
Islamic Spain Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
during the 800s, although this again presupposes that tâb is older than what written sources indicate. Borvo notes that the absence of sáhkku and daldøs traditions on the long stretch of coastline between
Jæren Jæren is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the large ...
in the south and Ivguvuotna in the north does not speak in favor of this theory, or indeed any theory presupposing that tâb-type games were at one point played along the entire western coast of Scandinavia. He speculates that the game may have died out south of Ivgovuotna because it was only in the far north that the Coast Sámi made certain innovations to the game that made it interesting enough to keep playing for centuries (i.e. the king and king’s children, the increased freedom of pieces to move). This explanation presses the question of why the less “exciting” version, daldøs, did survive in southern Scandinavia. The general idea that the game spread from Africa and Asia along the west coast of Europe, gets some support from the findings of what is assumed to be related game boards stemming from seafaring communities around southern England: What appears to be a board for a game in the same family was found in the wreckage of the English warship
Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII. She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in ...
, which sank south of England in 1545. Likewise, a 13th-century manuscript from
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
includes a drawing of a game board which is seen as having probably been used to play a game of this family. This last finding predates the first mention a game called "tâb", and both findings predate the first description of tâb. Like daldøs, both the Mary Rose game board and the Dorset board feature an “extra” point on the middle row.


The Northern track

Finally, Depaulis points to a speculative opposite direction of this game family's spread – the ‘’Vandal track’’, in which a three-rowed running-fight game was brought ''from'' the North ''to'' Northern Africa by
Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...
in the period 400-500 CE, and spread from there to the Middle East. This would imply that tâb developed from a North European game tradition, and not the other way around. It also implies that sáhkku and its northern relatives may be direct descendants of the original North European running-fight game.


The lack of sources and artifacts

All of these theories have in common that there is little to no textual or material evidence to back any of them up. In addition to the sparse written sources, a key difficulty is that the tâb types of game were generally made from “ephemeral” materials which do not leave long-lasting material remains: often wood in the North, and in the Middle East the game has often simply been drawn in the sand, using twigs and stones for pieces and dice. As regards sáhkku, this lack of material artifacts problem was made worse by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
's burning of Finnmark and North Troms in 1944–45. Operation Nordlicht targeted the region with
scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...
tactics, and destroyed the pre-World War II material culture of the Coast Sámi almost in its entirety. The
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
had done the same in
Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...
before initiating the destruction of Finnmark and North Troms. Since this calamity struck precisely the region where sáhkku had mainly been played, it is unlikely that any game sets older than 1944 survived, except those that were stored in museums outside of the region.


The development and spread of sáhkku


First mentions of the game

It is unknown how long sáhkku has been played among the Sámi. The earliest mention in writing of what could be sáhkku was made by Johannes Schefferus in his book ''Lapponia'' (1673), where he states that the Sámi use dice that he describes as having the shape and markings of contemporary sáhkku dice. He credits Olaus Sirma with giving him this information. Schefferus did not, however, describe any game similar to sáhkku. After this, it is not until 1841 when a written source speaks of a game called sáhkku being played, then in the Lule Sámi area. This is generally assumed to have been the same game as the one described here, although no further description of that game was given. The first unambiguous description of sáhkku was made by J. A. Friis in 1871, who accounted in detail for a version played in
Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
(see drawing below).


Introduction of the king and other types of new pieces

Friis’ description shows that the king piece unique to this tâb-type game had by then been invented, but he makes no mention of queens or for that matter "king’s children". However, the oldest existing sáhkku board (1876) features markings that indicate the place where the queens are set in ''Lágesvuotna sáhkku'', although the set does not include the actual pieces. The oldest existing complete sáhkku set, donated to a museum by
Isak Saba Isak Mikal Saba (15 November 1875 – 1 June 1921) was a Norwegian Sami people, Sámi teacher and politician. He was born in 1875 in Nesseby Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway to Per Sabasen and Bigi Henriksdatter Aikio. Saba married Marie ...
in 1906 (depicted at the top of this article), includes soldiers, the king, three dice and a board with markings for where to place the king and possibly queens. There also exist non-complete sets of pieces – soldiers, king, and third piece types – which date back to the 1800s.Borvo 2001, p. 35 Michaelsen and Borvo argue that the introduction of the king into this relative of tâb could have been inspired by the Sámi board game tablut, which features a king piece shaped in a similar way to certain sáhkku king pieces. Likewise, Michaelsen speculates that in some variants the third pieces may have been not queens but king's children inspired by the Sámi board game dablo which has such pieces. Tablut was documented in the 1700s, while dablo was mainly documented in the 1800s and early 1900s. Both of these are, like sáhkku, specifically Sámi board games that belong to a larger family of games – tablut is of the North European
tafl Tafl games (), 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. Names of different variants of tafl include hnefatafl, t ...
family, while dablo is of the
alquerque Alquerque (also known as al-qirkat from ) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona and the diagonals of its ...
family that has its earliest traceable roots in the Middle East, and came to Europe through Spain.


Geographical distribution of the game

While descriptions of tablut and dablo are generally from the South Sámi area, more precisely
Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...
and southern Swedish Lapland, sáhkku has to our knowledge generally been played on the coast and the eastern inland of the North Sámi and Skolt Sámi area, in a region ranging from Ivguvuotna to Peäccam. According to Anders Larsen the game was also played by coastal Sámi further south, in
Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...
county. Hence, sáhkku has at least during the last two centuries mainly been played in the core area of the Coast Sámi culture. The game is, however, also known to have been played in northern parts of
Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...
, more precisely Ohcejohka and Aanar, and among the
Skolt Sámi Skolt Sámi (, , ; or , , ) is a Sámi languages, Sámi language that is spoken by the Skolts, with approximately 300 speakers in Finland, mainly in Sevettijärvi and approximately 20–30 speakers of the (Notozero) dialect in an area surround ...
of contemporary Norway, Finland and Russia.Borvo 2001, p. 39-40 See also the above mention of a game called sáhkku being played among the Lule Sámi of Huhttán, Swedish Lapland. Outside of Sápmi, what is speculated to be a sáhkku king has been found in
Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast o ...
(1890), although this piece could also be a
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
king. It has, however, been documented by V. Carlheim-Gyllensköld (cited by researcher Peter Michaelsen) that
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
in Spitzbergen did indeed play sáhkku in the 1890s. This variant employed 2*13 soldiers and one king, on a board with 3*13 lines. Uniquely, they also used six-sided dice. One of the sides was marked “X”, one was blank, and the remaining sides marked with strokes (I-II-III-IIII). The “X” was referred to by the Russians as ''sakko'', a name confirming that these Russians had indeed learnt the game from the Sámi, or alternately that they themselves were Russian Sámi.


Sáhkku today

Sáhkku was considered a sinful game by Christian missionaries and Laestadian evangelists.Borvo 2001, p. 33 As a result of this religious pressure - in addition to official Norwegianization policy's pressure to abandon all aspects of Sámi culture and identity, and the destruction of Coast Sámi material culture during World War II - sáhkku began to fall out of use in Sámi communities after the 1950s. In some localities the game was still played regularly during the 1960s (often in secrecy to avoid negative reactions from those with religious objections to it) but it eventually fell out of widespread usage. Sámi cultural revitalization began to pick up speed during the 1970s and 1980s, and in this period some copies of old sáhkku game sets were made. During the 1980s and 1990s the game began to be sporadically played again in
Máze , , or is a village in Kautokeino Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located along the river Kautokeinoelva, a tributary of the Alta river. about south of the town of Alta and about 60 kilometres north of the village of ...
, Inner Finnmark, and Lágesvuotna, coastal eastern Finnmark. In the period around the change of the millennium, researchers began to take an interest in sáhkku and its history, leading to several articles published about the subject in English and French. Since then, several small internet-based actors have begun to offer sáhkku sets for sale, but the game is still not widely available on the market. During 2018, there have been several sáhkku playing events in Sápmi and southern Norway, among others an open cup held by Sámi organizations in Oslo. The cup was played in accordance with the Lágesvuotna rules.Brenli, Erik
"Verdenspremiere". ''Ságát'' 19.10.2018
Brenli, Erik
"Verdens første sáhkku-cup i Oslo: Furuly til topps"
/ref>


See also

*
Daldøs Daldøs running-fight board game">ø">al'døs">ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døsis a Running-fight game">running-fight board game only known from a few coastal locations in southern Scandinavia, where its history can be traced back to around 18 ...
, a south Scandinavian relative of Sáhkku. *
Tâb Tâb () is the name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and West Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Somalia, wher ...
, a possible
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
ern relative of Sáhkku. * Tablut, the Sámi version of the Scandinavian Tafl games, from which the rules of modern Hnefatafl are drawn. Although the name is similar, tablut is not a relative of tâb. * Dablot Prejjesne, a Sámi game similar to
alquerque Alquerque (also known as al-qirkat from ) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona and the diagonals of its ...
and
draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...
.


Notes


References


Sámi

* *


Danish and Norwegian

* * * * *


German

*


English

* * * * * * *


French

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahkku Traditional board games Sámi culture Sámi-language terms Running-fight board games