Aeterna: Ancient Board Games

Step into a living museum of strategy.

Aeterna brings ancient board games back to life — each drawn from a different civilization, each with its own logic and rhythm.

— BAGH-CHAL — Nepal, 16th Century Four tigers hunt twenty goats across a sacred board. A tense asymmetric battle of predator and prey, born in the Himalayas.

— MŪ TŌRERE — New Zealand, 19th Century A Māori star-shaped board where every move constrains the next. Deceptively elegant, surprisingly deep.

— LATRUNCULI — Rome, 1st Century BC The game of Roman soldiers — a battle of flanking and annihilation played on stone boards across the Empire.

— SEEGA — Egypt, C. 1300 BC Two armies quietly fill a 5×5 grid before the battle begins. Capture by flanking — one exposed stone is all it takes.

— SURAKARTA — Java, C. 16th Century
Two armies trace a 6×6 board webbed with looping corners. Capture by looping — ride the curve and strike from behind.

— PICARIA — American Southwest, c. 1700 Three pieces glide across a 13-point web of grid lines and hidden diagonals. Align three in a row to win — a Zuni Pueblo classic once played with pebbles and maize kernels.

— HNEFATAFL — Scandinavia, Viking Age Defenders shield a king from besieging attackers on an 11×11 board. Reach a corner to escape — surround him on all four sides to end the siege.

— MANCALA — Africa & the Middle East, Ancient Era Hands sow stones pit by pit around the board into your own store. Three thousand years of patience have worn these pits smooth — one of the oldest games alive.

— FANORONA — Madagascar, 17th Century Two armies of stones cross a 45-point lattice, one step at a time. Capture sweeps a whole line at once, and it's compulsory — a single chain can clear a dozen stones.

FEATURES • Play against AI or challenge a friend • Museum aesthetic: period-authentic typography and ambient soundscape • Available in English, Français, Español, Deutsch, 中文, हिन्दी

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