Game review
Hnefatafl
7.1 / 10
- Developer
- Tom Hart
- Publisher
- Tom Hart
- Released
- 1 January 2016
- Platforms
- phone, desktop
- Genre
- board
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- true
The short version
A genuine, rules-correct implementation of Hnefatafl (Viking chess), with real click-to-select-then-tap-to-move mechanics confirmed working and turn alternation verified directly through the game's own state on both desktop and phone. The one real weakness is layout, not input - the fixed-width 11x11 board is wider than a typical phone screen and needs horizontal scrolling, a genuine usability cost for a board game where seeing the whole board matters.
Biggest strengths
- Controls confirmed genuinely correct on BOTH platforms through direct testing, not just visual inspection - selecting a piece highlights its real legal moves in green, clicking a highlighted square moves the piece, and the turn correctly alternates between black and white each time, verified directly by reading the game's own isWhitesTurn state after each move
- A real, thought-out rule implementation, not a stub - the source code implements custodial capture, corner-hostile squares, and a throne that is hostile to attackers always but to defenders only when empty, matching the standard Fetlar rules the game documents in its own sidebar
- An ancient, public-domain Norse game with genuine standing appeal and no trademark risk, distinct from the hex/turn-based strategy titles already on the shelf
Biggest weaknesses
- The board genuinely does not fit a typical phone screen - confirmed the rendered board is 518px wide against a 374px-wide phone viewport, so reaching the right-hand columns requires horizontal scrolling, a real cost for a game where surveying the whole board matters for planning a move
- Pass-and-play only - grepped the entire source for any AI/bot logic and found none, so two people need to be at the same device to play; solo players have no opponent
- Plain, functional presentation (a bare HTML table with piece icons) rather than a distinctive visual style, and sound was not exercised since none appears to exist in the shipped files
Who it's for: Fans of ancient asymmetric board games or chess-adjacent strategy who have a second player at the same screen, on either desktop or phone.
Our recommendation: play
7.1 / 10
Opening
Hnefatafl, sometimes called Viking chess, is an ancient Norse asymmetric board game: a small force of defenders and a king try to reach a corner of the board, while a larger force of attackers tries to surround the king first. This is a small, honest implementation by Tom Hart, built as a learning project and openly described as such in its own README.
Controls, confirmed on both platforms
Rather than trust the click-to-move design on description alone, both desktop and phone were tested directly with real moves. On desktop, clicking a black piece highlighted its legal destinations in green, and clicking a highlighted square moved the piece there - confirmed by reading the game's own isWhitesTurn variable, which correctly flipped to true immediately afterward. The same sequence was then run for a white piece, correctly flipping the turn back to black. On phone, the identical mechanic was re-tested with real touch taps at the piece's actual on-screen position (found via the game's own DOM, not guessed) - the turn again flipped correctly, confirming the touch mechanic genuinely works, since it is the exact same plain click-listener code as the desktop version.
A real rule implementation, not a stub
Reading the source confirms this isn't a bare move-anything demo: captures use proper custodial capture (a piece is only captured if the enemy's move creates the sandwich, not if you move into one voluntarily), corner squares are hostile to all pieces but the king, and the throne is hostile to attackers always but to defenders only when empty - all matching the Fetlar ruleset the game's own sidebar describes.
The real weakness: phone layout, not phone input
The one genuine shortcoming found was layout, not input. The board renders at a fixed 518px width, wider than a typical 374-390px phone viewport, so reaching the board's right-hand columns requires scrolling sideways - a real cost in a board game where seeing the whole position matters for planning ahead. The tap-to-move mechanic itself works exactly as well as the desktop click-to-move version; it's the fixed board width that doesn't adapt.
Final Verdict
A genuine, correctly-implemented Hnefatafl with real click/tap-to-move mechanics verified on both desktop and phone, held back only by a board that's wider than a typical phone screen. Recommended for pass-and-play sessions with a second player at the same device.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Controls confirmed genuinely correct on BOTH platforms through direct testing, not just visual inspection - selecting a piece highlights its real legal moves in green, clicking a highlighted square moves the piece, and the turn correctly alternates between black and white each time, verified directly by reading the game's own isWhitesTurn state after each move
- A real, thought-out rule implementation, not a stub - the source code implements custodial capture, corner-hostile squares, and a throne that is hostile to attackers always but to defenders only when empty, matching the standard Fetlar rules the game documents in its own sidebar
- An ancient, public-domain Norse game with genuine standing appeal and no trademark risk, distinct from the hex/turn-based strategy titles already on the shelf
- MIT licensed with a real LICENSE file, no third-party analytics found, and no build step required
- Tap-native by construction - the desktop click-to-move mechanic and the phone tap-to-move mechanic are the exact same code path (plain DOM click listeners), so there was never a separate touch scheme to get wrong
Cons
- The board genuinely does not fit a typical phone screen - confirmed the rendered board is 518px wide against a 374px-wide phone viewport, so reaching the right-hand columns requires horizontal scrolling, a real cost for a game where surveying the whole board matters for planning a move
- Pass-and-play only - grepped the entire source for any AI/bot logic and found none, so two people need to be at the same device to play; solo players have no opponent
- Plain, functional presentation (a bare HTML table with piece icons) rather than a distinctive visual style, and sound was not exercised since none appears to exist in the shipped files