Ancient Roman Fun and Games

1
Ancient Roman Fun and Games

• By Lianna DeBor

http//www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/roma/
rbgames.html
2
A few popular games in ancient Rome

• Tali
• Tesserae
• Tabula
• Mancala
• Latrunculi

3
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
4
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

5
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
6
Tabula
Backgammon
Tabula was one of the games primarily responsible
for the gambling problem in Rome.
7
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 opponents 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

8
Succession of these game boards led up to the
Tabula board
9
Mancala

• Oldest board game of all

Race game, Trying to get the most stones in your
big square

• Common Mancala board

10
Latrunculi

• Most popular thinking game

Name comes from latrones meaning mercenaries,
referring to soldiers
? Most common size 8 by 12