The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #57: Dablot Prejjesne

DABLOT PREJJESNE
15. Captures for warriors and If rule 16 is not used, it is by Damian Walker
farmers are compulsory, though for sometimes possible to beat a player
pieces of higher station they are still whose most powerful piece remains
optional. when yours is lost. Since it is pos-
16. The game can be declared sible to win by immobilising the en-
over when the king or landlord is emy, minor pieces may block major
taken, that piece’s owner losing the ones in even if they cannot capture
game. them.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Information on dablot prejjesne can be obtained from the following books.
Bell, R. C. The Boardgame Book, pp. 152-153. London: Marshall
Cavendish Editions, 1979.
Bell, R. C. Discovering Old Board Games, pp. 42-45. Aylesbury:
Shire Publications, Ltd., 1980.
Parlett, D. The Oxford History of Board Games, pp. 247-248. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999.
Copyright © Damian Walker 2011 - http://boardgames.cyningstan.org.uk/

Board Games at CYNINGSTAN

Traditional Board Game Series
(Second Edition)
4 Leaflet #57
 The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #57: Dablot Prejjesne The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #57: Dablot Prejjesne

set up in the same way at the other (ii). the prince and the land-
INTRODUCTION & HISTORY end of the board. lord’s son may capture anything ex-
The nomadic Sami people from Dablot prejjesne recalls histor- 3. Players decide at random cept the king or landlord;
Lapland have been quite innovative ical struggles between nomadic who is to move first. After each (iii). warriors and farmers may
over the centuries when it comes to Sami warriors and Finnish settlers player moves, play passes to his op- only capture each other.
board games. An example of this is farming the land. One side has a ponent. 10. If the piece, having made a
dablot prejjesne, which has some Sami king, prince and warriors, capture, is in a position to make fur-
Moving the Pieces
resemblances to other games, but in while the other side are known as ther captures, it is free to do so in
combining them becomes a pure the landlord, his son, and their ten- 4. A player in his turn may the same turn.
Sami invention. ant farmers. Despite the differences move one piece along a marked line
Ending the Game
The game has been in existence in names the sides are completely in any direction, examples being
since at least 1892, when it appears equal in number and power, making shown in Illustration 2. 11. A player loses the game if
in a museum catalogue in Stock- this an even-handed game of war. 5. All pieces have the same he cannot move because:
holm. However, it took until 1973 A traditional board was made power of move. (i). he has lost all his pieces, or
before it was introduced to English- of pine, with the Sami side in yel- 6. Only one piece at a time may (ii). he has pieces left but they
speaking people by the game histor- low and the Finnish side in red. occupy a point on the board. are surrounded by the enemy and
ian R. C. Bell. unable to move.
Capturing Enemies
12. A player may resign if he
HOW TO PLAY 7. Instead of moving, a piece feels his position is hopeless.
Dablot prejjesne is and twenty-eight may capture an en- 13. The game
played by two tenant farmers. emy by jumping is a draw if only
people on a board over it and landing the king and the
Beginning the on the empty landlord remain on
of 72 points, ar-
Game space beyond (see the board.
ranged as two
overlapping grids: 1. The Sami Illustration 2).
Variation
one of six rows of player’s pieces are 8. Captures in
five points, and set out with the this game are op- Some players have
one of five rows of warriors on his tional; players are introduced new
four points, all back ranks, the never forced to rules to counter
connected by lines prince in front to capture. drawish play.
(see Illustration 1). the right, and the 9. No piece 14. Warriors
One side consists king in front, as may capture above and farmers may
of a king, a prince shown in Illustra- its station, spe- only move for-
and twenty-eight tion 1. cifically: ward, either dir-
warriors, while Illustration 1: the pieces in dablot prejjesne 2. The Finn’s (i). the king ectly or diagon-
the other has a set out at the beginning of the game. The landlord, son and and the landlord Illustration 2: moves and captures available ally. They may,
to the dark pieces. For clarity only single
landlord, his son biggest pieces are the king and landlord out tenant farmers are may capture any jumps are shown. Note that weaker pieces
however, capture
in front, with their sons behind them. enemy; may not capture stronger ones. in any direction.

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