Ancient Roman Fun and Games By: Lianna DeBor http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/roma/rbgames.html
A few popular games in ancient Rome… Tali Tesserae Tabula Mancala Latrunculi
Tali Knucklebones Gambling Game sheep or goat knucklebones Also made from brass, silver, gold, ivory, marble, wood, bone, bronze, glass, terracotta, and precious gems Four sides; each with a 1, 3, 4 or 6 on it Found in Pompeii
Tali Continued 1st two are glass 3rd is lead Four Tali dropped from a moderate height onto a table or the ground. Score came from side facing up. There are three scoring methods for Tali: - Simple - Senio - Extended Each getting a bit more intricate Found in Athens
Tesserae Numbers on dice arranged so that only 2 opposite sides would equal 7 Shaken in a cup then tossed Bets were placed The government restricted gambling because it became such a problem; so people started playing gambling games secretly
Tabula “Backgammon” Tabula was one of the games primarily responsible for the gambling problem in Rome.
Tabula rules Each player has 15 round playing chips Pieces enter from square 1 and travel counter clockwise 3 dice are thrown, three numbers determine movements between 1 and 3 pieces Player must use whole value of throw if possible If player lands on a spot that already has one of the opponents pieces on it, the opponent’s piece was removed from the board and had to re-enter from square 1 If a player has 2 or more pieces on a spot the opponent can not capture their pieces, the spot was ‘closed’ to the opponent Can not enter 2nd half of board ‘till all pieces have entered the board No piece may exit the board until all pieces enter last quarter of board
Succession of these game boards led up to the Tabula board
Race game, Trying to get the most stones in your big square Mancala Oldest board game of all Race game, Trying to get the most stones in your big square Common Mancala board
Latrunculi Most popular thinking game Name comes from latrones meaning mercenaries, referring to soldiers Most common size; 8 by 12