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Unambiguous finds of pieces from the eighth century
show that the game was being played by the time the
Vikings made their first raids abroad. So, while this
ninth-century board, a fragment of which was found in
Gokstad in Norway, doesn't have any markings that
identify it beyond doubt as tafl, we do know it has
the right size and shape (a nine mens morris board on
the reverse confirms it is square), and a 13x13 board
tallies with no other game of this era.
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But this board found in Ballinderry in Ireland in 1932
is unmistakeably tafl. The giveaway feature, along
with the odd number of cells on the square board, is
the marked central cell. The board was made in Dublin
in around the tenth century. An onion-shaped piece
found in Dublin gives some idea of what the pieces
would have looked like.
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