Play Hnefatafl Online. The Viking Board Game.

Welcome to our online platform dedicated to Hnefatafl, the traditional Viking board game. Join games against other enthusiasts, learn the rules, and stay updated on upcoming tournaments.

World Tafl Federation Championship 2026 - Sign Up from July 1!

The annual World Tafl Federation Championship is back!
This year's tournaments include Copenhagen Hnefatafl, Historical Hnefatafl, and Race Games.
Test your skills against players from around the world and fight for the championship titles!
Sign-up opens on July 1, 2026.
Deadline for registration: August 31, 2026.
Full tournament details here: Tournament Page 2026.
We look forward to seeing you in the tournament!

Play against humans.
Тавлеи против людей.
Rasmus Holbroe vikings

Small Forum.

Code of Conduct. You should not post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful or threatening material. Doing so may lead to you being immediately banned for a period of time.
(On the second, large structured forum, registering is normally disabled to keep spam robots out. Please give a tip-off if you need it opened for registering of a new user.)

2026-10-23 07:38 Casshern: I do not like talking about on going games but there is something that I have been wanting to give my opinion on. First off, Alex and I are very strong players. So our games are usually of high quality. That being said, I have seen many mistakes in our current games, on both sides. I certainly think that I could play better. Copenhagen is such a complex game. Which brings me to my point/opinion. Hagbard suggested allowing Grandmasters for Historical Hnefatafl with the same criteria as Copenhagen. I am not convinced that we should do that. Historical is a much simpler game compared to Copenhagen. There are many players who mainly play Historical and are good. But when they play Copenhagen the skill does not always transfer. However, if a player is strong at Copenhagen, they are usually strong at Historical or other variants. This is my opinion/view. Because of this I do not think a Historical Master/Champion should be promoted to Grandmaster based on that alone. I think they need to prove their skill in Copenhagen as well. To show true mastery of the game. As far as black not being able to cross the throne, I am not sure if that is necessary in Copenhagen. It certainly does help in Historical though.

2026-10-22 07:24 Black Raven: I agree with Alex's assessment. There are many cases where I was stopped from building an exit fort because Black pieces could cross the throne. I also believe the throne should be the same for Historical 11 x 11 and Copenhagen for the sake of consistency and simplicity.

2026-10-22 07:02 Hagbard: Alex Hnefatafl:
After the round has ended, please pay attention to move 29 in the game where I play White. Mario moves across the throne, creating a deadlocked position. This move could have been avoided with the new throne, and the fight for the corner would have been more active.
The new throne would also have prevented Black from completing the encirclement in a winning position and would have required more precise play from Black in that situation (see the second game, where I play Black).
Finally, in certain situations, the new throne makes it easier for White to build a white fortress.

2026-10-21 22:58 Draganov: I have no doubt that Casshern and Alex created high quality games. However, I think it is not that impressive to win with the blacks. When I was at my peak I managed to win against Casshern with the blacks several times. He won against me too with the blacks. Moreover, we see recently Plantagenet winning 9 out of 10 games with the blacks against Alex. So, I think more impressive would be to see a high quality game in which the whites are the winner. In my opinion, the highest quality game that I have ever seen is my victory over Casshern with the whites in the World Championship 2021.

2026-10-21 19:35 Hagbard: Alex Hnefatafl:
Tell everyone that, after the end of the round, I invite everyone to analyse my two games against Aluizo in Copenhagen. As of today, these are exemplary games at the highest possible level.
With perfect play, Black has the advantage and can block every possible route, leaving White with no chance.
After the discussion, I propose that we make the throne in Copenhagen similar to the throne in historical Hnefatafl.

2026-10-19 07:29 Hagbard: @Skye, if you forgot your password, you can email me to get it.

2026-10-15 21:32 Hagbard: Comment:
Hattusili is first to finish Copenhagen Round 2 with all games won.

2026-10-15 16:51 Hagbard: Comment:
Historical Round 2 alone, this player has exceeded his rating the most:

Historical Round 2:
Pavlo, rating 1355 but performance rating 1531, +176

2026-10-15 16:45 Hagbard: Comment:
Hagbard is first to finish Race Games Round 2.

2026-10-15 16:27 Hagbard: Comment:
When calculating the performance ratings for the first two rounds and comparing the result with the players’ regular ratings, this player has exceeded his rating the most:

Historical:
dimetr, rating 1799 but performance rating 2091, +292

... messages three months back ...

Rus'.

Alexander Steiger Dis' game set up in the Royal Hall in Lejre, Denmark. (Click on the image)

Train your brain like a viking. Science Days in Norway Sep. 27th 2020. (Click on the image!)

Hnefatafl is also known by the names Nefatavl, The King's Table, The Viking Game, Viking Chess, Tablut or simply Tafl.
History of this site.
Art on this site.
Comments on Hnefatafl.
The origin of the Viking board game Hnefatafl and the Berserk rules.
Links to more information about the Viking board game Hnefatafl.
Tafl Shops.

Viking word of wisdom: The Hávamál.
(Havámál på dansk).

World Championship Tournament 2025.

Здесь можно играть в тавлеи против людей. Можно использовать кириллицу.

Many thanks to Tim Millar ("crust"), Adam Bartley ("Adam"), John C. Ashton, Nicolas Cartier, Jonas Lööf ("conanlibrarian"), Olli Salmi, Damian Walker ("cyningstan"), Rasmus Holbroe, Thore Nissen, Lucho Panchev ("OdinHimself"), Corey Hart ("Brench"), Alexander Steiger Dis ("Steiger"), Dmitry Pashkov, Delray Curtis ("jrton80"), David Zolli ("branan"), Luk Martens ("Masterluke"), Marian Luck ("themightyglider"), Mikkel Berg-Nordlie ("mihkkal"), Alessandro Arzani ("Abbas Agraphicus") and all players who contributed to this site and to the photo gallery. And not least the more than 600 players from all over the world who have played 65,000 real human-vs-human tafl games here, creating a vast body of practical experience with this intriguing historical board game. (And lately, AI - namely ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini - has helped with some things.)