Jonathan Sanchez

1/22/15

Period 3

Activity 1.11
Ancient Games Notes
Take notes on the students Ancient Games presentation if the teacher wishes.
This is supplemental.

Name of
Game
Tabula

Nine Men
Morris

Caculi

Duodecim
Scripta

Interesting fact

Basic rules

Why Important

Tabula was a race

board game
similar to
Backgammon
goes back several
centuries BCE
Tabula means
Table or Board

Each player has 15

pieces.
All pieces enter from
square 1 and travel
counterclockwise.
Three dice are
thrown, and the three
numbers determine
the moves of between
1 and 3 pieces.
Any part of a throw
which could not be
used was lost, but a
player must use the
whole value of the
throw if it is possible.
Each player has nine
pieces, or "men",
which move among
the board's twentyfour intersections
The object of the
game is to leave the
opposing player with
less than three pieces
or no legal moves
Black plays first.
First person to line up
five stones in a row
orthogonally or
diagonally wins.
It is illegal to make a
"double open-ended
three" unless one is
forced to do so.
If the board becomes
filled, the game is a
draw.
Two players sat
across from each
other and placed their
15 black or white

If a player had 2
or more men on
a point, this
position was
closed to the
enemy, and
these men could
not be captured.

Abstract strategy
game for 2
players

This game is the

familiar game of
"Five in a Row,"
which was played
on the same
boards as
Latrunculi.

Duodecim Scripta
means "Twelve
Lines" or Twelve
Lines of the

Emerged from
the Roman
Empire

The Romans
referred to this
game as ludus
calculorum, "the
game of
stones,"

The object was

to get all one's
pieces across
the board to the

Jonathan Sanchez

Tesserae

Philosophers and
was played on a
board.

pieces (presumably
stacked) on the first
square on their side of
the board

Playing Dice was

very popular
game among the
Romans

The Romans called

these tesserae, but
they also had a type
with only four marked
faces called tali.

Bloody knuckles

Hit each others

knuckles until one
person starts to bleed
or give up
Terni Lapilli boards
are found throughout
the Empire, scratched
on walls, floors, and
roofs, no X's and O's
accompany the
markings.

Knucklebones

Terni Lapilli

Patolli

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Terni Lapilli is
considered to be
identical to
modern Tic-TacToe

One of the oldest

games of the
Americas

Patolli is a race/war
game with a focus on
gambling on blankets,
stones, or food.

The Aztec ball

The term "sudden

Period 3

final square.
If you landed on
a square that
had an
opponent's
piece already on
it, that piece
would return to
(their) square
one.
If two or more
opponent's
pieces were
already on the
square, then it
could not be
occupied.
The only
difference
between these
Roman dice and
modern dice is
that the
numbers were
arranged such
that any two
opposite sides
would add up to
seven.
Ancient game

a Terni Lapilli
board was
recently
uncovered in
the British
Museum which
included four
blue pieces and
five red pieces
In order to get
one of the jade
stone markers
on the board,
the player
tosses five
specially
prepared kidney
beans on the
game area.
When the

Jonathan Sanchez

Aztec Ball

Royal Game

1/22/15

game was actually

a revision of an
ancient
Mesoamerican
game that was
played by many
peoples including
the Mayans

death" could become

more dangerous,
literally. The coach of
the losing team, by
the fate of the gods,
is chosen to die; in
the tradition carried
from the Olmecs, the
loser is decapitated in
sacrifice.

Aztecs started a
new settlement,
there were two
things they
would do. First,
build a shrine to
the god
Huitzilopochtli,
and then build a
ball court next
to it. In
Tenochtitlan it
was surrounded
by the palace
and temple. The
Aztec ball game,
known as
Ullamaliztli, was
a priority.

One of the earliest

board games

We do not know the

games rules

One of the first

games ever
invetned

Popular in Ancient
Egypt

The game was played

on a board of 30
squares; the object
being to get one's
pieces on the board,
then around the board
in an S-shaped
pattern, and finally off
again at the far end.
Mancala games play a
role in many African
and some Asian
societies comparable
to that of chess in the
West.

The most
common playing
pieces were 5
cones shaped
pieces pitted
against 5 reel
shaped pieces

The word shatranj is

derived from the
Sanskrit chaturanga
(chatuH=four, anga=
arm).

The game came

to Persia from
India, in the
early centuries
of the Christian
Era.
The Kings
objective was to
escape while the
opponents job
was to capture
him.
Tafl spread

of Ur
Senet

Mancala

Shatranj

Tafl

Period 3

Family of board
games played
around the world,
sometimes called
sowing games or
count and capture
games.
Is an old form of
Chess popular in
Persia for almost
a 1000 years.
Family of ancient
Germanic and
Celtic board
games played on
a checkered or
latticed board with
two teams of

The size of the board

and the number of
pieces varied, but all
games involved a
distinctive 2:1 ratio of
pieces, with the lesser
side having a king-

The word
mancala comes
from the Arabic
word naqala
meaning literally
"to move".

Jonathan Sanchez

uneven strength.

Liubo

Chaturanga

Go

Seega

Liubo is a ancient
Chinese boardgame whose rules
are forgotten.
Chaturanga is an
ancient Indian
game which is
presumed to be
the common
ancestor of chess.

A strategic game
for 2 players

The ancient game

of Seega has been
played for
centuries
throughout Egypt
and other parts of
the Middle East.

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piece which started in

the center.
The name comes from
the Chinese word for
sticks.
Chaturanga has been
played since the 6th
century or earlier,
hence Chaturanga is
most commonly
believed to be the
oldest version of
chess.
Go is played by two
players alternately
placing black and
white stones on the
vacant intersections of
a 19 19 grid board.
Seega is a simple
game in terms of
materials and rules,
but it involves plenty
of strategy and
thinking once you are
playing

Period 3

everywhere the
Vikings traveled
The name
comes from the
Chinese word
for sticks.
In Sanskrit,
"Chatur-angabala" literally
means "an army
comprising 4
parts
(elephants,
chariots,
cavalry, and
infantry).
Go originated in
China at least
2,000 years
ago.
In Egypt, 5x5
game boards
were common,
while 7 x 7 or 9
x 9 board do
exist.
The larger
boards are more
complex, and
created a
greater
challenge for
the players