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Ludus duodecim scriptorum – Roman game

This post is also available in: Polish (polski)

Ludus duodecim scriptorum - Roman game
A preserved board for the game XII scripta in the museum in Ephesus. | Photo: Jens Christoffersen | Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

The Roman game ludus duodecim scriptorum (also called XII scripta) was a board game with 3 rows, each with 12 markings. To this day, no one knows how the game was played.

This game was played in taverns, lupanars, houses and forts. Many examples of “boards” have survived to our times, ranging from Egypt to Britain. Scientists believe that the game is very similar to the Egyptian senet game.

Little information has survived to our day regarding the rules governing this game. During the game, three cubic dice were used, and each player had 15 pieces. The oldest mention of the game comes from Ovid “The Art of Loving” (early 1st century CE).

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