| In 1863, after an absence from history of 130 years, tafl reappeared in the form of an American Civil War game, closely modelled on Linnaeus's rules. Early in the twentieth century, more and more scholars started to take an interest in board games, and some of them gave tafl their particular attention. Authors such as D. W. Fiske and H. J. R. Murray tried to reconstruct the game, while historians and archaeologists like J. A. Robinson and H. O. Hencken tried to make sense of early manuscripts and archaeological finds. By the 1960s the game attracted commercial interest, with games like Goldfinger (another tablut derivative), and at least one reproduction in a children's book. As well as tafl variants, there grew up separate games which clearly took hnefatafl as an inspiration, such as 3M's Breakthru. This trend continues, with popular implementations like The Viking Game continuing to sell well, and derivative games like Thud coming to market in the 21st century. |
