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 2025 - Sign Up from August 1!

The annual World Tafl Federation Championship is back!
This year's tournaments include Copenhagen Hnefatafl, Historical Hnefatafl, Sea Battle Tafl, Berserk, and Race Games.
Test your skills against players from around the world and fight for the championship titles!
Sign-up opens on August 1, 2025.
Deadline for registration: September 14, 2025.
Full tournament details here: Tournament Page 2025.
We look forward to seeing you in the tournament!

Note: This recruitment text was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.

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.)

2025-11-11 16:51 Hagbard: Info:
OdinHimself has a timeout coming in 10 hours.
SqAree has a timeout coming in 20 hours.

2025-11-10 07:34 Dimetr: Hello!
Yes, of course I will join testing.
This year we tested the rule:
-The throne blocks black but not white-
but, I didn't notice the difference,
black was still much stronger.
So we should also try to add rule
-the throne is hostile to black but friendly to white-
I hope this helps the whites

2025-11-08 19:11 gulo: Sounds good! I hope @Dimetr will join the testing. Afaik he initiated the previous test with attackers blocked by the castle.

2025-11-08 18:32 Hagbard: It may be worth looking into after the tournament. That would probably be with a variant that goes all the way:
– the throne blocks black but not white,
– the throne is hostile to black but friendly to white,
– the king can, as usual, return to the throne.

2025-11-08 18:14 gulo: The rules for the throne/castle of the king (“arx regia”) are the least clear generally. We know that it restricts movement in some way, as “nobody can enter”. There’s doubt whether that includes the king when he has left it, and also whether pieces can move through. We also know that it is hostile in some way. Rule 14 doesn’t specify whether the castle acts entirely as a separate (“third”) piece, both blocking and attacking, or whether it is only hostile but can be passed through, nor whether this applies to all pieces. We can add clarifications, but there’s no certainty. We can use logic arguments like “it makes sense that the king can return to the king’s castle”, and it makes sense that said castle allows friendly troops to pass through, and protects their flank, while being hostile and closed off to the king’s enemies. Others might bring just as sound arguments contrary to mine here.

2025-11-08 17:52 gulo: Though they could correspond privately with others in any case. I see the point.

2025-11-08 17:52 Hagbard: Regarding Tablut:
Does Linnaeus’s journal support a variant where
– the throne blocks black but not white,
– the throne is hostile to black but friendly to white?

2025-11-08 17:47 Hagbard: Regarding the visibility of the games: there is a risk that other players might give advice, therefore the games are hidden until they are decided.

2025-11-08 17:43 Hagbard: ( - I can’t help but add: Just imagine how much the Vikings of that time would have laughed if they heard this — that Odin with his ravens in 2010 was supposed to be a lady.)

2025-11-08 17:37 gulo: Would it be possible to see the final games of the WTF? As there are only two players left I can’t see a reason to keep the games private.

... 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 on the Viking board game Hnefatafl.
Tafl Shops.

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

World Championship Tournament 2024.

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 the world over who played here 50,000 real tafl games humans against humans and created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.