Three Awesome Ancient Games

Dear Classical Wisdom Kids, 

I hope you are excited about today’s issue! We have the much awaited ancient game, puzzle and..the amazing secret decoder!

These were all taken from the lessons we learned at the Museum of Ancient Inventions on Rhodes. If you missed Frida’s postcard from the museum (including a video of trying to use an ancient crane and Owly showing off the super cool portable clock, an ancient astrolabe!) you can watch it here: 

Now... as for today, all three crafts were actually pretty easy, fast and not expensive to make and have been quite the hit. I made a few mistakes along the way (some more embarrassing than others), but I’m still super happy with the results.

The secret decoder was the ABSOLUTE winner, and I think it’ll be a fun game to play while we travel. Since we made it, Frida has been wanting to do it all the time. Added bonus: it actually helps practice spelling (a must in our family)!

Classical Wisdom Kid Club Members, you can enjoy all three games and crafts, including the history and how to make them, below. 

Can’t wait to hear which were your favorites. 

All the best,

Anya Leonard 

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom and Classical Wisdom Kids

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Ancient Tic-Tac-Toe

First, we began with “Trias”, a third century BC game which is essentially... the first tic-tac-toe!

Owly at the Museum checking out the ancient “Trias”

Make It Yourself!

First, draw out a circle, with 8 equidistant rays and a dot at the ends as well as in the middle. Two players get three pawns each, which can be stones, pebbles, coins, cut out pieces of paper, shells, anything really! Take turns placing your pawn on a dot - the aim is to get three in a row (that can include the outside ring as well).

I thought this would be a fun game to play on a beach by just drawing the circle and lines in the sand and finding some different colored stones or shells nearby... As we are no longer beachside, we did it by cutting out glittery foam paper. While we would have preferred the fun glittery side, it was really hard to see the lines, so we had to opt for the more matte option. 

So simple, yet a lot of fun to both make and play. Great for when you need to find a game on the road or in nature. 

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Archimedes’ Box

Archimedes’ Box, also known as the “Ostomachion,” is another third century BC game and was the predecessor of the puzzle and the tangram. It’s also a mathematical problem of Archimedes!