Normans

This is how inhabitants of Scandinavia were named by people that lived in Northern Europe. From the VIIIth century util the second half of the XIth century they organized marine expeditions that went to ports as far as on Greenland and Newfoundland in the west and Gibraltar in the south. Traveling along rivers, mainly the Volga and Dnieper they reached Black Sea and Caspian Sea. These were roberry, trade, colonization and conquering forages. Scandinavian brigands are often called Vikings, which probably means 'those who live in bays' since Old Norse word 'vik' means bay. In Russia they were called Varangians.

Men playing Tafl, detail from rune stone from Ocklebo, Sweden
Picture reproduced by permission of Christie L. Ward, http://www.realtime.com/~gunnora/games.htm

See a map of the Norman's expeditions

'I can play at tafl,
Nine skills I know,
Rarely forget I the runes,
I know of books and smithing,
I know how to slide on skis,
Shoot and row, well enough;
Each of two arts I know,
Harp-playing and speaking poetry.
--- Earl Rognvaldr Kali'[1]

As we can see from the above citation know-how playing tafl games was set a hight value on by Scandinavian nobles.

'Tafl' means in Old Norse board and it originated from Latin word 'tabula'. Initially it was used for many board games, most commonly for an old Scandinavian game known as Hnefatafl.
dice and game counters from Hedeby Picture reproduced by permission of Christie L. Ward, http://www.realtime.com/~gunnora/games.htm