Editing Alquerque (section)

==History==
[[Image:Alquerque in Libro de los juegos.jpg|thumb|left|An illustration of the game in ''Libro de los juegos'' ('book of games')]]

The game first appears in literature late in the 10th century when [[Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani]] mentioned qirkat in his 24-volume work ''[[Kitab al-Aghani]]'' ("Book of Songs"). This work, however, made no direct mention of the rules of the game, most likely because it is [[poetry]] and they would have been common knowledge in the context the book originated in. 

In ''[[Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations]]'', [[Robert Charles Bell|R. C. Bell]] writes that "when the Moors invaded Spain they took El-quirkat with them".<ref name="Bell vol. 1">{{cite book |last=Bell |first=R. C. |authorlink=Robert Charles Bell |title=Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, volume 1 |year=1979 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |location=[[New York City]] |isbn=0-486-23855-5<!-- Volumes 1 and 2 are bound in the same book and thus have the same ISBN. --> |pages=47–48 }}</ref> Rules are included in ''[[Libro de los juegos]]'' ("Book of games") commissioned by [[Alfonso X of Castile]] in the 13th century.

[[Spain|Spanish]] [[settlers]] in [[New Mexico]] introduced a four-player variant of alquerque to the [[Zuni people|Zuni]].
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