Taflkast, Viking Dice Game, Birka
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- 3 large dice made from cattle bone
- 1 x Handstitched leather pouch.
Set of three, large handmade bone dice based on a Viking Age find from grave bj581 in Birka, Sweden. The set comes with a handstitched leather pouch. One of the three dice is special , just as the original find, in that it comes with two 1's and two 5's. We call it the Urthur (fate) die, since it offers an "all or nothing" approach to the roll.
Dice games (Old Norse: Taflkast) were popular during the Viking Age. A dice pouch was easily carried in the belt and all that was required to play the game was a flat surface. There are many games that can be played with these three dice. One is to simply make roll-offs with two dice, where the Urthur dice can replace one of the regular dice.
Link to the original find at the Swedish History Museum: http://mis.historiska.se/