Slate board game - Seega

Over the Easter break, we visited Honister Slate Mine in Cumbria. They sold lots of nice slate products, but they were all really expensive.

Then we saw the off-cuts box.

Several of the things they sold had holes drilled in them to take tea-lights, and they sold the holes as well! They must be useful for something ...

So, as my pocket became a couple of pounds lighter, my arms became a couple of pounds heavier.*

Later in the day, after a (very interesting) tour of the mine, the guide let us take our pick of a centuries-old spoil-heap. Guess who grabbed the biggest piece he could lift?

An idea quickly formed - make a board game out of slate, so you can leave it in the garden.

_{*See the clever linguistics you miss by not being British?}

Step 1 Ideas

OK, we're making a board game, but which one?

It turned out that the slab would carry a 5x5 grid of pieces quite comfortably, so I decided to find a game that could be played on a 5x5 grid.

I thought about Quick Chess, Hyle, square solitaire and three, six or nine-men's morris, but I eventually settled on Seega (also known as siga, Egyptian siga, or woodsense or Fidchell - versions of the game seem to have sprung up all over the world). Apparently it is still played in Eygpt and Somalia.

The most playable version came from GameCabinet.

Comments

[mikeasaurus]

I just got back for visiting another slate mine in Tan-y-grissiau in Wales, simply amazing! Though there was no tourist shop to sell us anything, we did get a chance to explore some caves and mines! This is a great idea! Maybe try using olive oil for one set and leave the other along, that way you'd have lights vs. darks, though the oil may leave the stone after a while, perhaps a lacquer instead.

[lunius]

use the oil, that way when you've finished you can "wipe the slate clean" and start anew xD

[LinuxH4x0r]

Great job! Silly british with your heavy money.

[lunius]

LMAO the world's HEAVIEST chess set: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Chess-Set/

2400 pounds! xD

[jamiec53]

That joke!!!! Brilliant.

[thefunktopus]

yes the delights of being british.
pity the weathers awaful, like today it was the first hot day in a billion years* and I had hayfever!!!!
*un-official figures

[hoyahoyaman]

haha, i like the safety first policy. Your son (im guessing) wearing the petzl rock climbing helmet to gather rocks :P

[Kiteman]

That's what he was given to wear in the mine - some of the ceilings were that low, and we needed the helmet lights.

[Gavabc123]

i thought you were going to turn it into a skate board

[Kiteman]

No, slate board ;-)

[Patrik]

Great idea - looks beautiful!

[Kiteman]

Thanks, and thanks for the Feature as well!

[duck-lemon]

can't you feature your own work?

[Patrik]

Yes, but it's considered bad form...

[duck-lemon]

i thought as much.

[Kiteman]

Yah, I'd feel a fraud. I'd rather my work impressed somebody else enough to feature it, otherwise it's just an ego trip.

[Lithium Rain]

Can you feature people then?

[Kiteman]

_{Yes, but I'm fussy.}

[Lithium Rain]

Can you feature me?? _JK

[Spedy]

Wheres the "feature" button? I've always wondered that.. On topic: Very cool. I was a little confused about "[i]and they sold the holes as well![/i]" until I saw the picture lol

[Kitewife]

The "feature" button is only available to a small team of specially-selected members. You have to impress the team to get featured.

[Patrik]

Come on people, impress me!

[Spedy]

Ah, I get it. I thought it was something like that, just couldn't find anything akin to a badge or title or something on featur-er's profile.

[hydrnium.h2]

What about Go?

[jongscx]

Let's see... What other games can you play on this board, with the markers? Do you have enough pieces for a quick game of Go?

[joejoerowley]

Very Cool! I like the play on words about pounds. :)

[incorrigible packrat]

Hey how about great big tangram shapes, made from 24" square concrete pavers? Put 'em in the zen garden... Or, better yet; Collect thousands of marble tile offcuts from house flippers' "upgrade" projects (perhaps with a little help from craig). Cut 'em all into Sir Arthur C. Clarke (requiescat in pace) "Black Monolith" shapes. Make a pathway out of them. Send the young 'uns to play in the dirt. Listen for Zarathrustra.

[Mr. Rig It]

Nice job, to bad your bit didn't hold out you could have made some deeper grooves. I do believe this game will be around forever, or atleast 300 years. ;-)

[solo.card]

Nice game, looks like something worth a try. Though I shall probably not play with slate.... (+1, just for the lame British joke :))

[Labot2001]

Haha - pounds.

Creative idea! +1