Throw the dice!

Hide the dice...

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Several dice and playing pieces have been found at Bryggen. Games were an important part of leisure in the Middle Ages and one can imagine that King Magnus the Lawmender’s ban on dice games in the year 1276 were not popular. The law came as a consequence of the fact that several people had settled into large debts and played off farm and land. The ban was part of the new city law, which regulated the city and the life of its residents in a whole new way, and provide a fascinating insight into the everyday life of the Middle Ages. We do not know who owned the dice found here, but we play with the idea that they may have been hidden because of the ban…