Introduction

The games of the Ancient Greeks were an integral part of their civilization. There were games for individuals and teams, mind games and fun games played by children and adults, at home, in the market, at feasts, at festivals, even during breaks from the battle. Some of the most impressive are the mechanical automatic games, such as the magic dance, the floating ball and the magic mechanical horse with a throat that could be cut (with a knife by the presenter of the automaton), while it automatically continued to drink water from a cup. Many ancient strategy games are precursors of popular modern board games, such as polis (chess), the ancient backgammon, the ostomachion (jigsaw and tangram) and the triodin (tic tac toe).