Ancient Board Games

Game Master: Ancient Games brings together seven of history's most enduring strategy board games in one elegant, lightweight app.

App available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic.

THE GAMES

- Tablut: A variant of Hnefatafl, the ancient Viking hunt game. Attackers surround the board while defenders must escort the King to freedom.
- Seega: An ancient Egyptian strategy board game of placement, movement and cunning capture.
- Checkers: The timeless classic board game, reimagined with clean controls and sharp AI.
- Mancala: The ancient count-and-capture board game played across Africa and Asia for thousands of years.
- Gomoku: The Japanese five-in-a-row battle of wits and pattern recognition.
- Bul: A traditional Mayan racing game played with wooden sticks as dice.
- Royal Game of Ur: One of the oldest board games ever discovered, dating back over 4,500 years to ancient Mesopotamia.
- Nine Men's Morris: The medieval mill game of placement and strategy, played across Europe for over a thousand years.
- Senet: An ancient Egyptian board game of strategy and luck, thought to symbolize the journey of the soul through the afterlife.

HOW TO PLAY

Never played before? No problem. Every game includes a concise, easy-to-understand How to Play screen covering the rules, objectives and key mechanics, so you can go from zero to playing in minutes.

HISTORY

Curious about where these games come from? Each game includes a History section covering its origins, cultural significance and how it has evolved over the centuries.

GAME MODES

Every game offers three ways to play:

- vs AI: Three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium and Hard
- Local multiplayer: Pass and play with someone next to you
- Online multiplayer: Match up with a random opponent anywhere in the world, or challenge a friend directly using a short, unique friend code

STATS

Your performance is tracked separately for each game and mode. See your win/loss record against each AI difficulty level and across online play, a personal record of your progress over time.

LIGHTWEIGHT BY DESIGN

Game Master is built to be as lean as possible. No bloat, no unnecessary permissions, no large downloads. It installs fast, runs smoothly, and won't eat your storage or battery.

THE PERFECT TRAVEL COMPANION

Whether you want a quiet solo challenge against the AI or a competitive match with a friend sitting next to you, Game Master has you covered in any situation, on a train, a plane, or just killing time while learning new games.

MORE GAMES COMING SOON

Game Master seeks to become an easily accessible library hosting a diverse array of historical games, with both their history and rules well explained to ensure these games do not end up forgotten in museum shelves.

Therefore, we plan to expand the collection with more ancient board games in future updates. Have a particular game you'd love to see added? Let us know! We'll see what we can do.