Of the Tables, and the Game of Irish

I have told You before this of the games of the Cardes, their manie
kindes and the rules for them. Now I wyll begin to speke of the games
of the Tables, a play as ancient and wel knowne.

In picture I have sent, I shew the form of the Tables. They are twoo
bordes, connected by the middle, eche one hollow, as a large box. Within
this box, you rolle youre dyce and playe your men. On the outsyde,
manie will put a chessborde, but this is not needed for the playe of
the Tables. Eche syde of eche box shews six points, making in all
.24. points to be played upon, halfe whyte and halfe blacke.

On one ende of your syde is your
ace pointe, whych is .e. on the mappe, 
and counte your points around from this: next to the ace
is the duce poincte, then trey, kater, cinque and sice: and on for
the seven to .12. on your syde: and across from the .12. is your .13.
point, and so back on to the other end, whych is your .24. and is .d.
on the mappe. And your
.24. is your enemies ace point, and your .12. is his .13. And it
maters not whether yr Ace is to yr left or right, for if it is to
yr right, your enemie shall have his Ace to his left.

The playes of the Tables are muche alike, yet muche different. In all
suche playes, the players rolle the dyce, and move their men as the
dyce command, but the array of the men and their movement and
capture are different for eche game. Yet in all playes of the Tables,
eche player has .15. men with whych to play. And one player playes men
of whyte, and one of blacke: or red and blue: or anie another twoo
colours, an they be different.

Irish is the oldest and most commone of the plaies of the Tables, and
is knowne in all countries I knowe, by names whych change from place
to place.

To aray the men for Irish, place five of your men on your sice point,
whych is point .a. on the mappe: three men on your .8. point, whych is
.b.: five men on your .13., whych is .c.: two men on .24., whych is
.d. And your enemie arrays hys men against yours, two men on hys .24.
five on hys .13. and so as you do.

And eche plaier has two dyce, and a box to throwe them from: and this
box muste have smooth sydes, and nought to impede the dyce, for those
who would play falsely may do so by control of the box. And the dyce
are thrown into the Tables, so they fall flat. And you begin by
throwing one die eche, and the higher throw shal begin.
And eche player shal throw bothe of the dyce in turne, fyrst the one
player and then the other.

And when you throw the dyce, you shal move your men as the dyce fall:
as if you throw a .2. and a .5. you shal move one man by .2. points,
and the other by .5. Or you may move a single man by .2. and then by
.5. or by .5. and then .2.
but you may not move him .7. in a single jump, for yf the way
be blocked, he maye not move. And your men shal always move around
the Tables toward your home, as from .d. to .e.: they maye not move
contrariwise. And your enemies men shal move from his .24. to his
Ace point, that is from .e. to .d., contrary to yours.

Anie man may land in any poincte whych is clear, with no men within:
and may land within a point that contains men of hys owne colour.
Anie man may land on a blot, whych is a pointe with but a single
enemie man: and if this be so, the enemy blot is captured, and is
put on the bar betwene the twoo Tables. But yf the point has more
than one enemie lying upon it, you maye not move upon it: yr enemie
has the poincte in safety.

Yf you have a blot whych has been taken by your enemy, you maye not
playe until the blot is entered againe upon the bord. You enter your
man by rolling bothe of the dyce, and playing the man to your enemies
Table, between .d. and .f. As, yf you roll an Ace, you maye put the 
man on the enemies
Ace poincte .d.: and so you may roll and enter the duce, trey, kater,
cinque and sice. Yet you muste enter the man as you move, placing
him only on spaces that are empty or upon your owne men, or
capturing an enemie blot, but you may not play upon twoo or more
enemie men. And so you maye enter two men in a
single rolle of two dyce, yf it so hap that you have two men
blotted. If the dyce may not be played, as you rolle a .2. and a .3.
and bothe these points be full of the enemie, the roll is forfeit.

When your Table is full, as you have twoo or more men on all
points from your Ace to your Sice, you have Bound the Table. And
yf your enemie has lost a Blot, hee maye not entre, as eche
pointe is full. At this, the Table muste be Broken. Your enemie
and you shal both roll the dyce, and hee who rolls the greatest
shal chuse a poincte to break: and this point shal lose all but
one of its men, just as yf they were lost to a blot. So it is
best to avoid Binding Your Table when your enemie may lose a blot,
as it maye then be broken.

The victory of the game is to move your men around the Tables until
all are within your Table, that is from your Ace to Sice points.
When thys is so, you maye begin to bear your men from the bord: and
you bear by moving men over the Ace point out of the borde, as the
dyce allow. When
you are so able, it is best to bear by an exact roll of the dyce,
but you may do as you wyll. And hee who beareth all of hys men from
the Table fyrst shal be accompted the victor.

And this is the whole game of Irish. I shal speke to you next of
other games of the Tables. Yr ob'dient Justin du C, this warme
.29. of June, in the yeere 1597.

Endnotes
--------

Irish is the immediate precursor to early Backgammon, which is
described briefly below. As the letter alludes, it was
played quite widely, known by a variety of names in a variety of
cultures through most of period. ("Irish" is the 16th/17th century
English name.) It is fairly similar to truly
ancient forebears dating back to Rome. It appears to have been
highly popular almost everywhere in Europe.

This reconstruction, like so many, is based upon Francis
Willoughby's _Volume of Plaies_, from the 1660's. However,
everything seems to indicate that, aside from a few specific
details, Willoughby's description jibes closely with all other
accounts.

"Ace", "duce", "trey", "kater", "cinque", and "sice" are, of
course, taken from the French, and mean the numbers 1 through 6.
Period works are pretty consistent about using these terms for
the first six points of the Tables, as well as for the sides of
a die.

For brevity, I will assume that the reader is familiar with
modern Backgammon; if not, clearer rules than I can write can
be found in almost any gaming book. Suffice it to say, Irish is
pretty much just like Backgammon, with the following caveats:

-- Doubles mean nothing in particular in Irish.
-- You can only win a single stake in Irish; there is no mechanism
   for getting skunked.
-- The doubling cube doesn't exist (it was a much later invention).
-- The rule about Breaking a Bound Table seems to be unique to
   Willoughby; it isn't clear to me whether it was more broadly known.
   It may or may not be period; use your discretion. (I happen to like
   the rule, myself.)
-- As far as I can determine, you do *not* have to bear by exact roll
   if possible, the way you have to in modern Backgammon. However, the
   modern rule is exactly the best strategy for Irish; I surmise that
   this optimal strategy was codified and made into a requirement
   sometime during the Baroque period.

Other than that, it's pretty much the same game as modern Backgammon,
and the equipment has changed little over the centuries -- the only
conspicuous change (aside from changes in materials) is that period
boxes had square sides, whereas most modern ones are rounded. I highly
encourage the play of Irish: it is one of the two or three games that
were most broadly known in period (perhaps the single most common game
of the Middle Ages and Renaissance), and it is easy and quick to learn.

An aside on Backgammon: Backgammon was probably invented in the first
half of the 17th century, so I won't bother describing it in
this series. Suffice it to say, early Backgammon was the halfway point
between the modern game and Irish. The differences from Irish as follows:

-- In Backgammon, doubles count twice: that is, if you roll a pair of
   fives, you play as if you had rolled four of them.
-- Stakes are more complex. If you win by a throw of doubles, you win
   a double stake. A "Backgammon" is bearing off all of your men before
   your opponent gets all of his to his home table; according to the
   various sources, this is worth either a double or triple stake. And
   winning by a Backgammon with a throw of doubles on the last roll is
   worth an additional stake yet.

Since the game is probably pre-1650, but not pre-1600, it falls into the
grey areas for the SCA. Use your own discretion about whether to play
it. Irish was still the more popular game as of 1650, and is far more
period, so I would generally recommend playing that instead. (If you want
a game that is faster and higher-stakes than Irish, I recommend Tick-tack,
which I will describe soon.)

				-- Justin du Coeur