Whether simple stones moving along squares etched in the dirt or magnificent table-spanning sets full of 3D features, board games of all shapes and sizes have captured the imagination for centuries and beyond. Even so, some games have proved easier to find than others.

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While a Catan set or a basic Poker deck can be purchased with ease, other games prove much, much rarer. Whether due to the wear and tear of centuries, a lack of copies, or its fading into obscurity, these games aren't likely to be found one the average player's gaming shelf.

10 The Daitouryou Hanafuda Deck Is Where Nintendo Got Its Start

A scene featuring a Hanafuda / Koi-Koi game from the movie Summer Wars

The story of Nintendo began in 1859 with the lifting of a nationwide ban on playing cards in Japan. Fusajiro Yamauchi swiftly capitalized on this by printing Hanafuda cards through his newly founded company. The cards were first made by hand before the rapidly growing demand led the company to explore more efficient methods.

Playing like a mix of Gin Rummy and Mahjong, Hanafuda can appear daunting at first but isn't hard to learn. Because Nintendo never stopped printing its "Daitouryou" Hanafuda decks, the cards are still available to any player interested in learning the ropes.

9 Fireball Island Is Rare Despite Its Nostalgic Status

Partial cover art for the original Fireball Island

Feeling like a thrilling Indiana Jones-style adventure, Fireball Island is a peak of 1980s nostalgia. The game sees players racing each other to be the first to claim the "Firestone Gem" atop the peak of the titular island, navigating chasms and dodging fireballs along the way.

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While the original is difficult to find nowadays — due to its size and number of pieces — remakes have seen a resurgence in recent years. Those remakes include 2018's Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar and the 2021's Fireball Island: Race to Adventure — a smaller scale twist on the original formula.

8 Modern Wargaming Got Its Start With Kriegsspiel

Kriegsspiel pieces on a map.

Kriegsspiel translates directly as "war game," an appropriate name for the grandsire of the genre. This game would go on to birth not just modern wargaming, but also lay the foundation for tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Originally intended as a training tool, it rapidly caught on with the nobility after an extravagant set was gifted to King William III of Prussia. Notably, Kriegsspiel made use of a role called the "umpire," the equivalent of a modern-day GM, who handled unclear rules and any subterfuge a player might wish their army to engage in.

7 Roger Corimer's Trafalgar Replicates A Navel Battle With Simple Pieces

An antique painting of The Battle of Trafalgar

This 1968 wargame sought to emulate the Battle of Trafalgar in miniature fashion. It included remarkably detailed rules for ship-to-ship combat such as breaking masts, wounding the crew, and shooting out the cannons of an enemy ship to leave it defenseless.

Unlike many more modern games, Trafalgar used a grid of dots to determine how far a unit could move, all laid out on a felt mat. The units themselves were similarly simple, made of tiles with basic stats and images printed on them along with a set of stencils to determine aim.

6 Jati Is A Tile-Laying Game That Never Saw Release

The pieces for Jati and partial instructions

The Bookshelf Games by 3M were a series of board games released from 1962 to 1974, featuring a mix of both classics and newly designed titles, all in matching boxes which looked like antique books and fit nicely on a shelf together.

While most of the M3 games received a decently wide release, Jati was the rare exception, being canceled very late in production. A simple tile-laying game, only around 100 copies of Jati were known to have been printed. They were all sent off as playtesting tools for the game-to-be, with few surviving to the modern day.

5 Hounds And Jackals Is Remarkably Ornate For An Ancient Game

A palm-decorated board for the game of Hounds and Jackals

Dating back at least 4000 years, Hounds and Jackals seems to have been a widespread game in Ancient Egypt, although the exact rules have been lost to the sands of time. However, attempts have been made to reconstruct it, using other games from the period as references.

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A lot of care went into many of the Hounds and Jackals boards found. They were generally shaped after animals such as bulls or crocodiles and were decorated with palm tree patterns. The pegs themselves bore a variety of guises, including not just hounds and jackals, but cats, horses, and more.

4 The Royal Game Of Ur Is The World's Oldest Board Game

A set for The Royal Game of Ur

Named for its original discovery in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, the Royale Game of Ur dates back at least 4600 years, if not more. Popular throughout the ancient world, it's since been found everywhere from the isle of Crete to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

With similarities to Senet, the Royale Game of Ur often shared a board, being featured on the opposite side of its better-known cousin. The game possessed simple mechanics and saw players throwing sticks instead of dice as they raced their sets of pawns to the finish line.

3 The Lewis Chessmen Are A Viking-Age Artifact

A collection of the Lewis Chessmen on display

Discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in northwestern Scotland and dating back to some time in the 12th century, the Lewis Chessmen represent some of the earliest Chess pieces found in Europe, each carved from pieces of walrus tusk.

While plenty of pieces have been found, they vary in size and design, implying that the 78 Chess pieces were from at least five separate sets. The aesthetic of the set was notable as well, featuring distinct Nordic influences including shield-biting Viking berserkers as rooks.

2 Monopoly Has Humble Origins

oldest monopoly board

While there's some controversy surrounding how much of the concept Charles Darrow borrowed for Monopoly, there's no doubt that the initial run he produced on oilcloth is now one of the rarest board games in the world, with only a single copy known to have survived.

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The unusual pieces, often resembling household objects or items from a dollhouse, have their origins in Atlantic City. Various knickknacks were often used as playing pieces in a homemade version of The Landlord's Game, a precursor to what is now called Monopoly.

1 Patolli Honored The Aztec God Of Games

A game of Patolli being watched by the god Macuilxochitl

One of the most popular board games of ancient Mesoamerica, Patolli lasted until the time of Emperor Montezuma. Despite this, no boards are known to have survived, as the rubber-sap and leather construction didn't weather the centuries well.

The boards themselves may be lost to time, but many depictions of Patolli have survived in art and writing, depicting a game with many similarities to Pachisi or Parcheesi. Said to be favored by the Aztec god of games Macuilxochitl, Patolli used thrown beans rather than dice to determine movement.