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A Formal and Strategic Approach to Understanding the Ancient Viking Game Hnefatafl: A Game Strategy Approach
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Computing Science.
2025 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

The ancient viking board game of Hnefatafl, though partly lost to time, can potentially give us great insight into viking culture, through its strategic play-style. In this paper, we aim to formalize the Fetlar rule set for Hnefatafl and develop multiple strategic approaches to the ancient board game of Hnefatafl. Through consultation with seven players of the game, we, with their help, propose four unique attacking strategies and five defending strategies for Hnefatafl. Through these strategies we explore how the game of Hnefatafl was meant to be played, and what values it may teach us about viking society. While our understanding of Hnefatafl is not complete, our research proposes that the game may be a tale of an epic battle against foreign aggressors unfolding on the game board. Through this analysis, we hope to build a foundation for future Hnefatafl research, hopefully allowing for the creation of greater strategies or even achieving perfect gameplay.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 45
Series
UMNAD ; 1588
National Category
Computer Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-244941OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-244941DiVA, id: diva2:2003725
Educational program
Bachelor of Science Programme in Computing Science
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2025-10-06 Created: 2025-10-04 Last updated: 2025-10-06Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf