Rasmus Holbroe vikings
Artist: Copyright © Rasmus Holbroe (Jan. 2016).

Measured tafl game lengths.

Tafl variant All games
moves
White won
moves
Black won
moves
Ratio
Market Hnefatafl 9x9 33 31 35 1.1
Simple Hnefatafl 11x11 (aka Welsh Tawlbwrdd) 33 30 37 1.2
Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (aka Saami Tablut) 39 33 45 1.4
Historical Hnefatafl 11x11 44 38 50 1.3
Historical Hnefatafl 13x13 54 41 66 1.6
Total Hnefatafl 11x11 62 48 75 1.6
Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11 64 49 78 1.6
Alea Berserk 19x19 (Bartley) 84 72 98 1.3
Frisian Dablo0 11x9 50 49 51 1.0
Frisian Dablo 11x9 73 69 76 1.1
Saami Daabloe 11x9 81 80 83 1.0
Saami Sahkku 3x15 (Kaafjord) 43 44 43 1.0
Daldos 3x12 40 40 40 1.0
Daldos 3x14 49 49 49 1.0
Daldos 3x16 43 42 43 1.0

The table shows for each game variant the quadratic average of the number of moves for all games, for games alone where defenders (white) won and games alone where attackers (black) won.

Some of the variants come out very steady, in that it almost doesn't matter to the gamelength whether white or black wins.
Such variants are suited for use of a chess clock.


Updated 23.5.2026
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