Celtic Fidchell – Ireland’s oldest board game

This is a great board game, with a connection to Ireland dating back over a thousand years.  This style of board game was played all over Northern Europe up to the 13th Century.  My game is based on the Ballinderry board with setup and rules optimised to provide a challenging and exciting game for players of all skill levels.

 

46.00

Free Shipping to Ireland and UK

1 in stock

Celtic Fidchell was the thinking mans strategy board game of choice in Ireland when Cuchulainn was a boy and is referred to frequently in the Celtic manuscripts and Legends where it is described as being played by royalty and even the Gods.

The game was invented by Lugh, the God of Light, and played with skill by his son, the warrior Cuchulainn.

History hasn’t yet definitively revealed to us the board layout or rules, ref. Early Irish Board Games by Eoin Mac White, but excavations in 1932 at a Crannóg in County Westmeath gave us the “Ballinderry board” which was subsequently dated 950-975 A.D.

Scholars agree that this board type lends itself to the playing of a Tafl or Tablut style game, variations of which were widely played throughout Northern Europe and Scandinavia at this time.

Others argue that Fidchell was more like the Roman game of Latrinculi, but while there is an element of speculation as to the precise rules of Fidchell we can be certain that the Ballinderry style board was played in Ireland over a thousand years ago. 

The Original board design is printed on an A4 sheet of durable 5mm. co-plast. The board is double sided, with the playing area and rules printed in English on one side and in Irish on the reverse.

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Ba í an Fhidchell Ceilteach rogha cluiche lucht éirime in Éininn le linn óige Chú Chulainn. Bhí idir éirim is straitéis ag baint lena himirt agus is minic tagairt di sna lámhscríbhinní Ceilteacha agus sna fínscéalta, áit a deirtear gur imir na clanna ríoga agus fiú na ndéithe é. Níl aon chúntas crinn sa stair ar leagan amach an chláir nó rialacha an chluiche againn ach is féidir deimhin a dhéanamh de gur imríodh leagan Bhaile an Doire den gcluiche in Éirinn breis agus míle bliain ó shin.
Bain sásamh as.

Customers should remember that as all products are handmade there will always be slight differences in size and glaze finish, no two items will ever be identical.

Where more than one of any product is available to purchase the displayed image may not always be an identical representation of the original design.  In such a case I will always provide images of the particular item purchased prior to shipping, if required.

All products listed on this website are in stock and I aim to dispatch purchases within two to three working days of purchase.

As soon as I receive your order I will contact you by email and you can expect delivery: 

Ireland: in 1-2 working days from dispatch

UK: in 3-5 working days from dispatch

Europe: in 3-7 working days from dispatch

Rest of the World: in 7-10 working days from dispatch

Your purchase will be delivered by ‘An Post’, the Irish postal service, with tracking.

– Free shipping to Ireland and UK

– EU +€8

– US & Worldwide +€8

Goods damaged in transit:

Just contact us within 24 hours of delivery and we will arrange a full refund or a replacement you love. You will need to send us a picture of the damaged item.

Returns and refunds:

If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, for any reason, we will arrange for a replacement you are happy with, a Gift Card or a refund to your account.

Just contact us within 14 days, send the goods back to us, undamaged, within 30 days of delivery and we will arrange the refund.  The customer is responsible for return shipping charges.

We want to have happy customers, please contact me if you have any questions.