New article in the Guardian about easily missed and very accessible architectural feature of SdC

[Madrood]

Link here

Games of xs and os (noughts and crosses?) carved into flagstones to pass the time. Charcoal or chalk would have been easier ...

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Thanks for the link.

Looks more like game boards to me rather than played games. Players may have used colored marbles or something and the carved dimples prevented rolling.

 

[Theatregal]

I found a few after reading this article in La Voz de Galicia a few years ago. The photo is one on the stone bench in front of the Parador Hostal do Reis Católicos side of the Praza do Obradoiro.

Más de 160 tableros de juego escondidos en Compostela sobreviven al paso del tiempo

Fueron tallados en las piedras de algunos de los lugares más emblemáticos de la ciudad en el Barroco

www.lavozdegalicia.es

 

[Madrood]

Thanks for the link.

Looks more like game boards to me rather than played games. Players may have used colored marbles or something and the carved dimples prevented rolling.

Yeah it seems overly strenuous just to play a once off game, that makes more sense. Though maybe it's hard to look back in our age of cheap and abundant paper.

I found a few after reading this article in La Voz de Galicia a few years ago. The photo is one on the stone bench in front of the Parador Hostal do Reis Católicos side of the Praza do Obradoiro.

Más de 160 tableros de juego escondidos en Compostela sobreviven al paso del tiempo

Fueron tallados en las piedras de algunos de los lugares más emblemáticos de la ciudad en el Barroco

www.lavozdegalicia.es

View attachment 129011

So it was this before plastic was invented:

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Looks more like game boards to me rather than played games. Players may have used colored marbles or something and the carved dimples prevented rolling.

It just occurred to me that the person who made a carving could have done it to rent the pieces to pilgrims or to play against them in a bet.

 

[AlwynWellington]

@Madrood, thank you for this thread.
I have read the Guardian piece and note the explanation of games of O and X is the only one offered. And that without any evidence.

Given that the examples are all in or about large buildings of unreinforced masonry, there might be a more straight forward alternative explanation. And it is this:

A website (ThinkHazard.org) describes Galicia as having a low earthquake. "Low" is described as "a 2% chance of potentially-damaging earthquake shaking in your project area in the next 50 years. Based on this information, the impact of earthquake should be considered in the project, in particular during design and construction."

While the constructors of large buildings in Galicia would not have had the benefit ThinkHazard.org, they may have had the benefit of "community memory". Or even the results of past damaging earthquakes in their vicinity. (A Richter 4.4 event was recorded near A Corruna in October 2021. Another website (Earthquakes ) reports the following near Sarria in the last 90 days:
Richter 5 = 1; Richter 4 = 0; Richter 3 = 0; Richter 2 = 45 (of which one happened "17 hours ago")

So, the nicely rounded depressions in stones for a larger building maybe intended to while away an idle moment.

Or they may have been intended for a lick of mortar to help the unreinforced masonry stay in place.

Of course, more research is needed (anyone for tennis). And you pays your money and you take your choice.

Kia kaha tātou (you all take care and be strong)

 

[hel&scott]

Some of us play card games to pass the time and leave no mark behind. Others need a board for their game and so use the nearest block of granite to carve one into the pavement that last centuries.

First saw versions of these on Roman ruins while looking for remains of storm water and sewers systems (what can I say, dad was a civil engineer and has past on some odd traits to us). Played drafts with stones on some boards, but the ones in Santiago are more set up for noughts and crosses.

Good article in the Guardian on this today.

 

[Tincatinker]

They look like mason marks to me. Indicators of who cut the stone, which other cut stone(s) relate and the pattern of construction. The fact that they’re now found as paving stones rather than structures simply reflects that stone lasts longer than we or any of our creations will ever do.
Though the idea of noughts and crosses played with a chisel and mallet has a certain appeal. “I saw the angel in the stone and carved until I set it free.”

 

[Jeff Crawley]

They look like mason marks to me. Indicators of who cut the stone, which other cut stone(s) relate and the pattern of construction. The fact that they’re now found as paving stones rather than structures simply reflects that stone lasts longer than we or any of our creations will ever do.
Though the idea of noughts and crosses played with a chisel and mallet has a certain appeal. “I saw the angel in the stone and carved until I set it free.”

Of course stonemasons always like to leave their mark - some of the "grotesques" in the old church at Fromista are amazing but this one takes my fancy:



Ernest "George" Down, Master Mason, who led the team that repaired the WW2 bomb damage to Exeter cathedral.

 

[Kathar1na]

The game is called “Tres en raya” in Spanish and you will find a number of articles - recent and older - about it when you enter ”Tres en raya” Santiago into Google News. “The first thing that came to mind was whether there was a link to pilgrims and the Way of St James but we’ve never been able to find anything to confirm this“, as the Guardian articles says. It was apparently played by the poorer of the inhabitants of Santiago and become popular in the Baroque era when the stream of pilgrims had dwindled anyway.

I can really imagine how something like this became a sort of “thing” all of a sudden, even in the distant past and not only in our time (just think of the locks on bridges that became suddenly popular).

 

[lt56ny]

I have noticed these because I always stay in a pilgrim room at the hotel if possible. I thought that they were just some stones that might have been a little cheaper or the original builders didn't want to throw them away. Nice possible history lesson!

 

[nilesite]

The games were used to pass time while people waited in line for buildings to open or for services. As recently as the 1960s, I think, there were tournaments.

 

[VNwalking]

I missed this thread and only stumbled on the Guardian story by accident today.
Fascinating - history of common folk, in plain sight, yet unnoticed.

Here's a link that was in the Guardian piece; it has a lot of information and many photos. San Martin Pinario seems a place where many of these have been identified - but who of us has paid much attention? In addition to @Theatregal and @lt56ny, maybe @mspath? Now I am kicking myself and intend to pay more attention next time I am there.

 

[Theatregal]

I missed this thread and only stumbled on the Guardian story by accident today.
Fascinating - history of common folk, in plain sight, yet unnoticed.

Here's a link that was in the Guardian piece; it has a lot of information and many photos.

I've wondered if maybe the grooves function similarly to Snakes & Ladders. Next time I'm in Santiago, I'll find some marbles and see if anyone wants to explore the possible game plays based on the info in the Guardian link!

Maybe you've seen this one - another older Guardian article about history in plain sight to explore.

Las guardianas de Compostela

Las gárgolas son las grandes olvidadas, testigos silenciosos en la capital del paso del tiempo, que esconden curiosas historias

www.lavozdegalicia.es

 

[VNwalking]

Next time I'm in Santiago, I'll find some marbles and see if anyone wants to explore the possible game plays based on the info in the Guardian link!

Love it.

Maybe you've seen this one - another older Guardian article about history in plain sight to explore.

Oh! Look down, look up, wherever you look there are wonders.
I loved the one from San Martin Pinario with vegetation growing out of his head.