A New Welsh Board Game to Relive Glyndŵr’s Fight for Welsh Independence

Welsh publishers Y Lolfa are about to release a new Welsh-language board game which enables players to relive the uprising of Welsh national hero Owain Glyndŵr. According to the publishers, this is the first mass-produced original Welsh board game for almost 50 years. The game board is based on a map of Wales at the turn of the 15th century, with illustrations of the castles that were besieged and locations of the battles waged. All the playing pieces and cards have been deliberately designed to convey a strong feel of the Middle Ages and to offer a genuine experience to players. According to Y Lolfa, the game will fill a big gap in a rapidly growing field. MD Garmon Gruffudd said:

"There is a great demand worldwide for board games as a reaction against the digital age and children and young people’s dependence on screens. Although some English games such as Monopoly and Scrabble have been translated into Welsh recently, I believe that this is the first original board game in Welsh for adults since Gêm y Steddfod, which was published almost half a century ago."

Y Lolfa hope that the game will be ordered by couples, families and schools as well as by Welsh learners. Geraint Rhys Thomas, the game's creator, had the idea during lockdown, and has carved all the wooden pieces individually at his workshop on the outskirts of Cardiff. Geraint is an authority on the life of Owain Glyndŵr and a miller at St Fagan’s National Museum of History by trade. He said: