original chess set

This attractive tic-tac-toe game is presented by India's Arti Sharma in a minimalist style. Hand carved from mango wood, the game board has nine grooves for the game pieces to sit in. The set comes with five teal and five beige glass marbles, which are stored in a black velvet pouch. The name Terni Lapilli comes from the original Roman name of this classic game.

Featuring a two-tone design, this puzzle game from Thailand is original and engaging. Hand-carved wooden pieces in a variety of shapes are designed to fit together in the shape of a tower, complete with a pointed top. The goal is to fit the pieces together in exactly the right way, alternating the beige and brown colors along the sides. The perfect challenge for one or more players, this puzzle is presented by Waraporn Khamsuk.

Played like bingo, the popular Loteria game from Mexico merges artistry and luck into an exciting game.

Originally titled La Lotería Tequilera in Spanish—by Marina Pallares—this fun set includes 36 cards and eight boards, each with a unique combination of images that coincide with the ones printed on each card.

The dealer picks one of the 36 cards—featuring Marina's exquisite art style—and recites its name while showing the picture, allowing the players to see if the image matches one of the figures featured in their boards. The winner is the first person to complete the card.

Inlaid on black lacquer, gleaming golden foil creates a chessboard pattern. Nantana Sompamitre works with mango wood to craft a box for business cards. A Thai technique dating back many generations, lacquer art is masterfully demonstrated in this design.

The Sierra Family craft an original tic-tac-toe set from fine marble, as pink veins and white squares contrast with sleek black. The whole family will spend hours aligning the nine playing pieces.

As each piece is sculpted individually dimensions may vary slightly.

Ana Maria Gonzalez in Mexico creates this fun jewelry chest, employing the decoupage technique. A skeletal bride and groom are depicted on the top and front of the pinewood box, in homage to José Guadalupe Posada's La Calavera Catrina. The small chest features two drawers for storing small treasures.

The original "La Calavera Catrina" was a zinc etching created by the artist José Guadalupe Posada in Mexico around 1910. Posada created the character, a female skeleton with an elegant hat, as a satirical portrait of Mexican natives who aspired to European style and denied their own heritage. The catrina has since become an emblem of Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration and a popular folk art subject.

One of the oldest games in history is dominoes, which originated in China around the 1300s with a similar format to playing cards. The popular tile game inspired Costa Rica's Chaverri Brothers to create an exceptional domino set hand-carved from teak wood with a storage box and 28 pieces for endless hours of fun.

Thai artisan Waraporn Khamsuk crafts this delightful set of dominoes. Made out of rain tree wood, the set of ninety-six dominoes comes in a conveniently sized wooden box. The dots on each domino are painted different colors according to their number in order to ensure easy recognition and enjoyable play.

Ivory cotton is dyed using batik, a resist-dyeing technique, to create this vibrant shirt. A variety of traditional Javanese and original motifs are used throughout the shirt. Hari and Arthur design it while embracing unexpected results, which they say adds to the uniqueness of his handcrafted textiles. The front includes hidden coconut shell buttons and a chest pocket.

This handsome babul acacia and kadam wood chess set handcrafted by Khyali Ram of India is perfect for the master strategist on the go. The artisan selects a different stain for each type of wood to both showcase the wood's beautiful grain and to distinguish the light and dark chess pieces and squares on the board. Each chess piece is hand carved and has a magnet on the bottom to hold it to the board when playing. The chess board folds and latches to become a carrying case with the inside storage compartments lined with padded green velvet to cushion the pieces.

Creamy white cotton is dyed using shades of blue with batik, a resist-dyeing technique, to create the traditional kawung and parang motifs, both originally used by Indonesian royal families. Hari and Arthur design the shirt while embracing unexpected results, which they say adds to the uniqueness of his handcrafted textiles. The button-down shirt includes hidden coconut shell buttons and a chest pocket.

Nine adinkra symbols that convey West Africa's collective wisdom adorn the lid of this intriguing game of oware. It opens to reveal the playing field of twelve depressions. Oware is a game of skill and strategy designed for two players, challenging mental agility and alertness. The objective can be briefly described as "counting and capturing beads" and there are no chance factors involved. A player's strategy entirely depends upon reasoning and counting abilities. Because of this, aware has been used successfully throughout Africa for teaching children basic numbers and arithmetic.

Oware is one of the oldest games in the world. The earliest records describing the game were found in Arab religious texts dating to the Middle Ages, suggesting the game originated in the Middle East and spread from there to Africa, then to Asia with Arab traders, and to the Caribbean around 1640 via the African slave trade. Other experts place its origins in Central Africa; the Masai people state that oware was invented by Sindillo, the son of the first man, Maitoumbe, and was originally called geshe.

In Arab countries, the most common name for this game is mancala, an Arabic word meaning "to move." In some West African countries the depressions in the board are referred to as warri or wwari, which means "houses," thus the name owari. In Nigeria it is known as adi, which is also the name of the seeds used to play it; and in South Africa it is called ohoro. With different and exotic names such as congklak, dakon, aggalacang, and nogarata, it has also been played in Asia long before the Portuguese rounded the southern tip of Africa.

Today, oware represents the diversity of Africa, as some version of it is played in nearly every country on the continent. Legend relates that Shyaam aMbul aNgoong, founder of the Kuba kingdom of Central Africa, taught the game to his people to encourage foresight and calculation.

The set includes 42 beads and a detailed playing manual.