Thursday, January 31, 2008

It all began with one game....

My husband grew up in a family that played games....lots of games. But of particular note are two games that were played because Brian's father was Armenian; Tovli (backgammon) and Fertgal (Nine Man's Morris).

When we lived in the Middle East we had the privilege to visit Damascus and purchase a beautiful Tovli board inlaid with Mother of Pearl which looked very similar to the one Brian's grandparents had owned. However, when it came to teaching games to our children, he realized that we had no Fertgal board, so he decided to make one.

That was our first handcrafted game board.

We homeschool our family and as we began to study the history of ancient civilizations we learned about several games that were played in those civilizations. Brian began making some of those games for us to play as a supplement to school; usually as a Christmas gift to the kids. I thought they were so beautiful that Brian should consider selling them. Well, he really didn't take me seriously until we took some to an indoor 'garage' sale at a homeschool co-op. He sold more of those games than I did any of my 'stuff' and everyone that walked by simply raved about how beautiful and unique they were.

And so Antiquity Gamecrafters was born and we can now be found at http://www.antiquitygamecrafters.com and ancientgamecupboard.etsy.com

4 comments:

twiddlestix said...

What a great begining! Love the story!

Brian and Jennifer said...

Thank you, twiddlestix! ;)

SEWphisticate said...

i love your games! i grew up in a family that played games. it was a great way to spend saturday evenings together. i know my dad is going to love the Senet game he is getting for his birthday. it's wonderful to find something truly unique and historical at the same time.

Brian and Jennifer said...

We're really enjoying making this one, sew~ it's going to be beautiful; if I do say so myself :) I can't wait for you to see it.

~Jennifer