For iPhone, iPad and Android

LUDÉUM

Twenty-three games with centuries, even millennia, of history: from Egyptian Senet and the Royal Game of Ur to Viking Hnefatafl, Mexica Patolli, Chinese Xiangqi and Japanese Shogi. Challenge characters from their time, play with someone beside you or online.

Everything is free to play · No ads · No accounts

Play your way

One player

Against characters of the era, from Easy to Hard.

Two players

On the same phone or tablet, face to face.

Online

With Game Center on iPhone and iPad, or Google Play Games on Android: a random opponent or invite your friends with a link or a code. Live or turn-based, at your own pace.

The museum rooms

The games are grouped by era and place, as in a museum. They are reconstructed from ancient sources, archaeological findings and oral tradition, and when the sources disagree you choose the variant: Ur with Irving Finkel's rules, Senet according to Kendall or Bell, 9 × 9 Tablut or 11 × 11 Hnefatafl, Arabic or medieval Shatranj, Oware or Kalah, and more.

Antiquity c. 3100 BC – 6th century AD

Mesopotamia · c. 2600 BC

Royal Game of Ur

The Game of Twenty Squares

A race with pyramid dice across 20 squares: rosettes grant another roll, and captures happen on the middle row.

Their rivals
Ludingira, the scribe's apprentice · Ea-nasir, the merchant · Puabi, the queen of Ur

2 variants

Greece · 7th century BC

Pente Grammai

The Five Lines

The oldest Greek board game we know of: move your pieces to the sacred line.

Their rivals
Daphnis, the shepherd · Nicias, the hoplite · Aristotle, the philosopher

2 variants

Rome · 1st century BC

Latrunculi

The game of soldiers

Place your soldiers, then trap enemy pieces between two of your own to capture them.

Their rivals
Decimus, the recruit · Lucius, the centurion · Maximus, the legate

4 variants

Rome · 1st century BC – 6th century AD

XII Scripta

Twelve Lines · Alea

A race with 15 pieces and dice, ancestor of backgammon: get them all off the board before your rival.

Their rivals
Felix, the freedman · Fortunata, the shopkeeper · Claudius, the emperor

2 variants

Rome · imperial era

Three Men's Morris

Roman tic-tac-toe

Place and move three pieces until you form a line. Quick and deceptively deep.

Their rivals
Quintus, the boy from the forum · Rufus, the baker · Cornelius, the senator

2 variants

Egypt · c. 3100 BC

Senet

The game of passage

Egypt's race across 30 houses with four tablets: swap places with your rival's piece, protect your own two by two, and don't fall into the water.

Their rivals
Ipy, the scribe's apprentice · Merit, the linen weaver · Tutankhamun, the pharaoh

3 variants

Middle Ages 4th – 15th century

Scandinavia · 4th – 11th century

Hnefatafl

The king's board

Asymmetrical Viking game: the defenders escort the king to a corner; the attackers try to surround him.

Their rivals
Leif, the fisherman · Sigrid, the skald · Harald, the jarl

2 variants

Rome · Middle Ages

Nine Men's Morris

The mill · alquerque of nine

Place and move nine pieces: every three in a row forms a mill and lets you remove a rival's piece.

Their rivals
Rodrigo, the squire · Friar Tomás · Alfonso X, the Wise

2 variants

Persia and Baghdad · 7th – 13th c.

Shatranj

Chess of Persia and Islam

The chess of the caliphs of Baghdad: the ferz moves one step diagonally, the elephant leaps two squares, and the pawn is crowned as a ferz. In Alfonso X's variant, it's even played with dice.

Their rivals
Zaynab, the merchant's daughter · al-Adli, the master · as-Suli, the caliph's champion

2 variants

China · Tang dynasty – today

Xiangqi

Chinese chess

Cannons that capture by jumping, elephants that never cross the river, and a general who never leaves his palace. Checkmate the rival general.

Their rivals
Xiaobao, the calligrapher's apprentice · Li Qingzhao, the poet · Niu Sengru, the chancellor

Modern Asian rules

Japan · Heian era – today

Shogi

Japanese chess

The pieces you capture pass into your hand, and you can drop them back onto the board as your own. Pieces promote upon entering enemy territory, and the goal is to checkmate the king.

Their rivals
Haru, the potter's daughter · Sōzaemon, the rice merchant · Master Kansuke

Rules of the Japan Shogi Association

Peoples of the world Traditions from around the world

Africa · traditional

Oware / Mancala

The sowing game

Sow seeds from pit to pit and capture your rival's when you leave 2 or 3. Whoever gathers 25 of the 48 wins.

Their rivals
Kofi, the boy · Nana Kwame, the chief · Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother

2 variants

Mesoamerica · until 1521

Patolli

The game of beans

Aztec cross-shaped race with five beans as dice: wager jade beads, avoid the triangles, and capture in the center.

Their rivals
Tochtli, the macehual · Itzel, the market seller · Moctezuma, the huey tlatoani

2 variants

Hawaii · before 1778

Kōnane

Lava and coral

Hawaiian jumping game: the board starts full and every move captures. Whoever can no longer jump loses.

Their rivals
Kai, the fisherman · Leilani, the weaver · Kaʻahumanu, the regent

2 variants

Greece · Byzantium – today

Tavli

Greek backgammon

The backgammon of Greek cafés: three games in a row on the same board, with hits, trapped pieces and blocks, up to 5 points.

Their rivals
Archimedes, the mathematician · Aspasia of Miletus · Achilles, the hero

4 variants

Southern Africa · traditional

Morabaraba

The mill of the cows

The shepherds' mill game of southern Africa: twelve cows per side and diagonals at the corners. Every three in a row lets you remove a rival's cow.

Their rivals
Thabo, the little shepherd · Nthabiseng, the potter · Moshoeshoe, king of the Basotho

2 variants

Madagascar · 17th century – today

Fanorona

Capture by approach or withdrawal

Move toward a rival piece or away from it and you capture the whole row along that line. Chain captures decide the game.

Their rivals
Hery, the zebu boy · Ravao, the silk weaver · Ranavalona III, the queen

2 variants

Italy · 18th century – America

Dominoes

Two dice in one tile

The domino game of the arcades and fairs of Mexico: lay tiles that match the open ends and be the first to run out of tiles. For pairs or two players, with a pot.

Their rivals
Beto, the lottery caller · Tacho, the merrymaker · Juventino Rosas, the composer

2 variants

Card room 16th – 19th c.

England · 17th c.

Cribbage

Fifteens, pairs and pegs

English card game with a peg board: add up fifteens, pairs and runs, and reach the finish before your rival.

Their rivals
Ned, the Thames ferryman · Moll, the innkeeper · Sir John, the poet

2 variants

Mexico · 19th c.

Conquián

The grandfather of rummy

The Mexican card game that gave birth to rummy: play the center card in sets and runs until you're out of cards.

Their rivals
Toño, the muleteer · Doña Chole, the innkeeper · Don Juan, the rancher

2 variants

Italy · 19th c.

Briscola

Trumps and mariannas

Italy's card game: you don't have to follow suit, trump rules all, and whoever collects more than 60 of the 120 points wins.

Their rivals
Totò, the fisherman · Lucia, the potter · Nonno Saro, from the plaza

2 variants

Japan · 19th c.

Hanafuda

The flower cards

Twelve months of four cards: match each card with another from the same month, combine plays like the five lights and decide whether to stand or call «koi-koi».

Their rivals
Kenta, the apprentice · O-Hana, the florist · Hokusai, the painter

Koi-Koi

Spain · 19th c.

Tute

The forty, in pairs

The classic card game of Spain's cafés: follow suit and set up your hand, call the twenty or the forty, and the four kings or knights win the trick. You play paired with Mateo.

Their rivals
Pepe, the shoeshiner · Paco, the guitarist · Fermín, from the Estafeta

In pairs

What we know and what we don't

Every game comes with its "i" cards: History, with photos of real boards and pieces from museums; How to play, with an animated explanation; and Rules, which separate what's documented from what's still debated. A guided tutorial teaches you how to play the first time.

Challenges, tournaments, and achievements

Challenges

The weekly challenge and the monthly challenge, with stamps for your yearly collection.

Weekly tournaments

The Weekly League and the Game of the Week, with Game Center and Google Play Games rankings. They start Monday, November 2, 2026.

Achievements

45 achievements on Game Center and Google Play Games for exploring the rooms, playing online, and beating the toughest opponent in each game.

Also on tablet

The big screen suits the boards, on iPad and Android tablets. Your games and achievements come along with you.

Mecenas

All of Ludéum is free to play, with no ads. If you want to support the museum, become a Mecenas with a single purchase, no subscription:

On iPhone and iPad it's shared with your family through Family Sharing. Everything new for Mecenas is included at no extra cost.

Coming soon to the museum Coming Soon

The collection keeps growing. These 10 games have already been announced, but can't be played yet: they'll arrive one by one, a new one every month.

Ludéum is coming soon to the App Store

For iPhone and iPad. Have Android? Join the trial at groups.google.com/g/ludeum-android. Questions or ideas? Write to us from the support page.

Support · Privacy

The app's historical photos come from Wikimedia Commons (public domain or CC BY) and are credited within the app.

© 2026 Carlos Carmona