Editing Vikings (section)

====Games and entertainment====
[[File:NMSLewisChessmen6.jpg|thumb|Rook, [[Lewis chessmen]], at the National Museum of Scotland]]
Archaeological finds and written sources indicate that the Vikings participated in social gatherings and festivities.<ref name=NatMus>{{cite web|url=http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/games-and-entertainment/|title=Games and entertainment in the Viking period|publisher=National Museum of Denmark|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502075927/http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/games-and-entertainment/|archive-date=2 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=SportsGames>{{cite web |url=http://sciencenordic.com/how-vikings-killed-time |title=How Vikings killed time |website=ScienceNordic |author=Isak Ladegaard |date=19 November 2012 |access-date=1 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220023325/http://sciencenordic.com/how-vikings-killed-time |archive-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Board games and dice games were a popular pastime. Game boards were made of ornately carved wood, with gaming pieces fashioned mostly from wood, bone, or stone. Pieces were also made of glass, [[amber]], and antler, along with materials such as [[walrus]] tusk and ivory from foreign sources. The Vikings played several types of ''tafl'' games; ''[[hnefatafl]]'', ''nitavl'' ([[nine men's morris]]) and the less common ''[[Tafl games|kvatrutafl]]''.<ref name="Wolf2004" />

''Hnefatafl'' was probably the oldest type of board game played in medieval Scandinavia.<ref name="Wolf2004" /> The archaeological record indicates that ''hnefatafl'' was popular by the early medieval period, with the Vikings introducing it to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.<ref name="Lapidge2005">{{cite book |last1=Lapidge |first1=Michael |title=Latin Learning and English Lore: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature for Michael Lapidge |date=2005 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8919-9 |pages=13–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rEkOX8NmM0C&pg=RA1-PA13 |volume=1 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212071920/https://books.google.com/books?id=7rEkOX8NmM0C&pg=RA1-PA13 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Ockelbo Runestone]] shows two men possibly playing ''hnefatafl'',<ref name="Schulte2017">{{cite journal |last1=Schulte |first1=Michael |title=Board games of the Vikings – From hnefatafl to chess |journal=Maal og Minne |date=11 January 2018 |volume=109 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/268146544.pdf |access-date=12 February 2023 |language=en |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212071921/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/268146544.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and one saga suggests that dice games involved gambling.<ref name=NatMus/>

Beer and mead were served on festive occasions, where music was played, [[skaldic poetry|poetry]] was recited, and stories were told.<ref name=NatMus/> Music was considered an art form and musical skill was viewed as suitable for a cultivated man. The Vikings are known to have played instruments including harps, [[lute]]s, [[lyre]]s and fiddles.<ref name="Wolf2004" />