Bronze Age sites on Cyprus have produced the largest dataset of game boards belonging to any ancient culture. Weight and morphological data were gathered from these artifacts to determine the likelihood of their portability and to identify what type of game was present. The presence of fixed and likely immobile games, as well as the presence of clusters of portable games, was used to identify spaces in which games were played. Counts of other types of artifacts found in the same spaces as games were tabulated, and Correspondence Analysis (CA) was performed in order to determine differences in the types of activities present in the same spaces as play.
The results of the CA showed that during the Prehistoric Bronze Age, which has fewer indicators of social complexity, gaming spaces were associated with artifacts related to consumption or specialty, heirloom and imported ceramics, and rarely played in public spaces. During the Protohistoric Bronze Age, when Cyprus was more socially complex, games were more commonly played in public spaces and associated with
artifacts related to consumption. These changes suggest a changing emphasis through time, where the initiation and strengthening of social bonds through the grounding process afforded by play is more highly valued in small-scale society, whereas the social mobility that is enabled by performance during play is exploited more commonly during periods of complexity.
In Isle of Thrones, you must build up your kingdom to avoid being dominated by your opponent. Players start with a castle as their initial piece of land and draw cards from two decks, Event and Effect, which can influence the game. Each turn involves drawing an Event Card, playing Effect Cards, taking actions such as placing land tiles strategically on the board to expand territory, and potentially drawing more Effect Cards. Players earn points by placing land tiles with different named pieces of the same point value next to each other, and the game ends when the board is filled or when a player can no longer place more pieces. Land pieces can be destroyed and returned to the Land Pile, and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins.