What is Fidchell?

Fidchell is an ancient Celtic game, probably at least two-thousand years old. It is related to the Welsh game Gwyddbwyll. Both names are translated “wooden wisdom.”

Among the Celtic people, which include the Irish, Scots, Welsh, Manx and others, Fidchell was a game played much like chess, in that it was a game of skill, not chance.  A king piece would occupy the center of the board. One player defended the king, the other would attack. Except for the king, each side had an equal number of pieces.

Because the word Fidchell is often translated as “chess” it is often compared to that game, which actually originated separately and much later. Fidchell is not the same as Brandub, Tawlbwrdd, or Tablut, which are all variations of the tafl games that originated in Scandinavia. Those games feature one side having more pieces than the other, which is almost certainly not true of Fidchell. They are similar, however, in that there was a king in the middle who was attacked and defended.

There is no known archaeological evidence of an actual Fidchell board or pieces, just descriptions from ancient documents, mostly myths and folklore, from which we may deduce the nature of the game. Game boards have been found, such as the Balinderry artifact or the Colchester board, but there is no evidence to connect these to Fidchell. Indeed, the Balinderry game is almost certainly a Brandub type game, which is inconsistent with descriptions of Fidchell. The Colchester (Stanway) game has more similarities, and may be more closely related to Fidchell, but no certainty exists.

To the ancient Celts, playing Fidchell was also part of relating to the spirit world. They sometimes played Fidchell as a form of divination.  Battles would ebb and flow as a result of the ebb and flow of a game of Fidchell, games played themselves, great events were decided on the outcome of a Fidchell match, and so on. This supernatural aspect is not as clearly reflected in the tafl games

Fidchell was primarily played by the nobility, and knowing how to play was a sign of sophistication. The boards and game pieces are often described as being made of gold and silver, decorated with precious stones.