Start with evidence
Boards, pieces, depictions, texts, find context and material affordances.
Research-led experimental archaeology
Ancient games survive in fragments.
Help us test what they might have been.
Boards, pieces, images and texts survive in fragments. Complete rules rarely do. Lost Games turns that uncertainty into a transparent, playable public experiment.
Who we are
A small commercial studio, working in public.
Lost Games is created by Mindful Echo Ltd, a small independent UK studio currently built and run by a single developer with a longstanding passion for games, history and archaeology.
We are not a charity, museum or academic institution. This is a commercial project: we intend to develop paid Apple-platform apps and carefully produced physical game boards alongside free public-facing research and playable web experiments.
How the model works
- Evidence dossiers, uncertainty labels and core public experiments remain accessible rather than being hidden behind a product.
- Commercial Apple apps can provide polished play, simulation, tutorials and ongoing product support.
- Physical boards and Field Editions can turn tested digital hypotheses into carefully versioned material objects.
- Revenue supports continued research, development, expert consultation and responsible production.
- Commercial ambition never converts a reconstruction into historical fact or expands an agreed image permission.
The strategy
From archaeological evidence to a transparent playable experiment.
We do not claim to recover a single authentic rulebook. We build evidence-bounded hypotheses, expose them to computation, expert review and public play, then publish what changes and why.
Build competing engines
Multiple playable explanations where the evidence permits, rather than one attractive guess.
Stress-test
Simulation and physical prototypes expose loops, bias and unused features.
Release openly
A free digital experiment enables worldwide play, scrutiny and comparison.
Learn in public
Privacy-minimised observations, aggregate findings and versioned rule changes remain visible.
Research integrity
The boundary is part of the experience.
The project becomes more interesting—not less—when players can see precisely where archaeology ends and modern game design begins.
Known
Reviewed material, textual or contextual evidence: objects, dated contexts, components and securely supported actions.
Inferred
Reasoned interpretations that make sense of the evidence but remain open to challenge or alternative readings.
Invented
Modern rules needed to make a complete game. Clearly labelled, tested for quality and never presented as ancient fact.
Working with collections
Permission is not a footnote. Context is not decoration.
Museum objects and archival images are evidence. We agree the permitted use, preserve the supplied context and credit, and keep modern illustration visibly separate from documentary material.
Item-level rights
We check the terms for each image or file, request permission where required and use material only within the agreed channels, duration and context.
Exact credit
Museum, collection, inventory number, creator or attribution, photographer and licence are carried into the production record and public credit.
No manufactured certainty
Permission to reproduce an object does not imply that its identification, function or relationship to a named game is settled.
Visible disclosure
AI-generated or reconstructed visuals are prominently labelled. They are never presented as photographs, ancient records or evidence supplied by a partner.
Context before release
Factual, cultural, editorial and licence checks precede publication. Sensitive objects and contested provenance receive additional human review.
No implied endorsement
Contribution, advice or image permission never implies institutional endorsement. Attribution, quotation and any partner review role are agreed explicitly.
Starting portfolio
Six games. Six different absences.
The portfolio spans Egypt, Greece, Rome, ancient China and Britain. Together the games test race, capture, transformation, regional variation and the interpretation of pieces preserved in position.
Mehen
Early Egypt
A segmented serpent board, small spheres and associated lion and lioness pieces survive. Direction, casting, interaction and objective do not.
Did runners travel inward—then release lions back down the coil?
Fifty-Eight Holes
Egypt & the ancient Near East
Two tracks of twenty-nine holes and five pegs per side are strongly supported. Regional boards connect different holes for unknown reasons.
One travelling game, or a family of local rule systems?
Latrunculi
The Roman world
Texts suggest a rectangular grid, straight movement and capture by enclosing an enemy. Setup, scale, movement range and victory remain disputed.
How much of Rome's battle game can its literary fragments actually constrain?
Liubo
Ancient China
Distinctive boards, six pieces per side and casting equipment survive. Texts add twelve paths, central water, fish and an owl.
Can these vivid elements form one coherent game without forcing the evidence?
Pente Grammai
The ancient Greek world
Five lines, five pieces per player and a strategically important sacred line are supported. Ancient evidence also associates play with dice, but die count and the complete system remain unresolved.
If the sacred line offered safety, why would a skilled player leave it?
Stanway
Late Iron Age / early Roman Britain
A decayed board and two groups of thirteen pegged pieces were preserved in an organised burial arrangement. Even the game's identity is unknown.
Which engines can explain a position without naming the game first?
Collaboration
A shared experiment needs more than game design.
We are seeking focused contributions that improve the evidence, method, public experience or physical reconstruction. Participation does not imply endorsement, and attribution and any review role are always agreed.
What partners receive
- A public-facing experiment built around transparent research.
- New ways for audiences and students to encounter archaeological uncertainty.
- Privacy-minimised aggregate play findings and a documented change record.
- Reusable visual, editorial or event material by agreement.
- Clear attribution without manufactured consensus.
Archaeologists & historiansChallenge evidence boundaries, terminology, chronology and proposed mechanical interpretations.
Museums & collectionsConnect objects to responsible digital interpretation, handling experiments, events and exhibition material.
UniversitiesCollaborate on experimental design, digital humanities, AI evaluation, teaching and publication.
Public archaeologyHelp design useful participation and feedback without confusing popularity with proof.
Media & creatorsTell a visual story about archaeology as a process: competing ideas, failure, play and revision.
Game researchers & designersDevelop and falsify engines, analyse emergent play and improve AI opponents and tutorials.
Makers & retailersPrototype material affordances and, after validation, create carefully versioned Field and museum editions.
Current phase
Prove the complete loop with one game.
Pente Grammai is the first planned public experiment because its equipment is compact and its sacred-line question is focused. Mehen follows as the visual flagship. The remaining four advance only as their evidence and engines become ready.
The evidence-led web experience comes first and remains free to play. Videos and related editorial material support the public experiment. The intended commercial products are paid Apple-platform apps and, after the games have been tested, print-and-play editions, physical boards, small Field Editions and selected manufactured or crowdfunded objects.
Where an image may appear in a paid app, physical product, packaging, monetised media, promotional extract or other commercial material, that intended use is disclosed when permission is requested. A permission granted for one use is never assumed to cover another.
An invitation
Help us build the bridge between object and play.
We welcome early conversations with people and organisations who can sharpen the evidence, strengthen the public experiment, test a reconstruction or help tell the story responsibly.
Contact Mindful EchoForgotten things don't vanish. They wait.