The Paperoom blog
The stories behind the games we print, and ideas for playing them well.
BlogA short history of bingoHow lotto-style games grew from a 1500s Italian lottery into tombola, housie, tambola and the 75-ball card, and how word bingo followed.BlogAlquerque: the ancestor of checkersAlquerque, the 5 by 5 board game from the Arabic al-qirq, its mention in Alfonso X's 1283 Book of Games, its basic rules and its link to draughts.BlogBattleship on Paper: Hunting, Spacing and SalvoesHow pencil-and-paper Battleship is played, how to set up two grids and a fleet that fits, and real strategy for searching, hunting and placing ships.BlogDots and Boxes: La Pipopipette and the Art of the ChainHow Édouard Lucas published La Pipopipette in 1889, how to play dots and boxes, and the strategy of safe moves, chains and the double-cross.BlogExquisite Corpse: The Surrealist Game of Hidden DrawingsHow Paris Surrealists turned chance into a game, where the name comes from, and how to play the folded drawing and sentence versions at home or in class.BlogLotería: Mexican picture bingoHow the Mexican picture game Lotería works, from its boards and caller's rhymes to a family version you can make with a 4 × 4 word bingo card.BlogMancala: the count-and-capture familyHow the mancala family of seed-sowing games works, where its names come from, and how to play a basic Kalah-style game on a printed board.BlogNine men's morris: a board game carved in stoneThe history of nine men's morris, from stone benches to schoolyards, with its two phases, mills, flying and tips for printing a board.BlogPaper Fortune Tellers: A Folding Craft That Is Also a GameThe folded paper fortune teller and its many names, how to play it with friends, and kind or funny fortunes to write inside.BlogA world tour of paper gamesA short tour of paper games from around the world, from Stop and tombola to xiangqi, mancala and nine men's morris, with notes on where each is played.BlogSudoku: From Number Place to the WorldHow a 1979 American number puzzle became sudoku in Japan and then a worldwide favourite, and how to make simple 4 × 4 and 6 × 6 versions.BlogThe Game of the Goose: a spiral race with geeseThe 63-square spiral race with geese: its traditional hazard squares, a Spanish counting rhyme, a way to teach counting and house rules.BlogThe many names of StopThe categories game under its many names, with how a round works, ways to pick the letter, 10, 5 and 0 scoring, and variations to try.BlogThe story of Snakes and LaddersFrom Moksha Patam and Gyan Chaupar to England, the story of Snakes and Ladders, why it suits young children, and two common house rules.BlogWhy Paper Games Still MatterAn essay on why printed games still gather people at one table: shared attention, no logins, room for in-jokes, large print and the calm of paper.BlogXiangqi for beginners: Chinese chess from the first moveA complete beginner's guide to xiangqi: the river and palace, how each piece moves, the facing-generals rule, checkmate and printing a board.