Medieval games

Playing dice became a favourite pastime of knights in the Middle Ages. The English king Richard I the Lionheart also liked to play dice. Dice games of various forms were popular in all European countries and gradually gained popularity in all social classes. After 1254, the first special gaming rooms (France) were also mentioned. There are also various reports of marked dice. In Silesia, dice were played in taverns and fairs, as well as at ducal courts. The church tolerated this entertainment as long as it was played for fun. Gambling was criticized by the clergy, dice gambling was considered a vice and secular and ecclesiastical prohibitions were imposed against it. In French literature, the dice was sometimes referred to as a devil's invention. Dice used to be made of bone, but also metal or wood, but also made of baked clay or ceramics.

The first card games appeared on the European continent in Italy in the 14th century. The first encounter with them in the Lands of the Czech Crown occurred in the 15th century. Both Catholic and Utraquist clergy strongly opposed the card game. However, despite this, the card game gained popularity in all social classes of the time, even though the price of painted cards was high. It was played with borrowed cards in pubs, for a fee. Rather simpler games were played, similar to today's pontoon.

Chess came to Europe from India via Persia, the Middle East and Byzantium, and to Bohemia probably from Italy in the 11th century. The individual sets of chess pieces represent the three levels of medieval society – the nobility, the clergy and the army. The most famous completely preserved chess set comes from the 12th century from the Scottish Isle of Lewis (it was made of walrus tusks and bones).