GAD

Activity 1.11

Yesica Gutierrez

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

Interesting fact

Basic rules

Why Important

Tabula was called

Alea which mean
gambling
Evolved directly
from Duodecim
Scriptorum

Each player has 15

pieces. All the pieces
enter from square 1
and travel
counterclockwise.
Three dice are thrown
and the three
numbers determine
the moves of between
one and three 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.
If a player landed a
piece on a point with
one enemy piece, the
enemy piece was
removed from the
board and had to reenter the game on the
next throw
Its a two player
game, each player has
nine pieces (men)
which move among
the boards twentyfour intersections. The
point of the game is to
leave the opposing
player with less than
three pieces or no
legal moves

Tabula was a
race board game
similar to
Backgammon
goes back
several
centuries BCE

Black team goes first.

First person to line up
five stones in a row
orthogonally or
diagonally wins. You

This game is the

familiar game of
"Five in a Row,"
which was
played on the

In this game you

will want to locate
your piece in a
place that you can
easily move. You
will want to block
your opponent. If
you can but if you
cant try to make
a mill of your own
with the same
strategy of your
opponent.
This game is the
familiar game of
"Five in a Row,"
which was played
on the same

Emerged from
the Roman
Empire

GAD
Activity 1.11

Duodecim
Scripta

Tesserae

Knucklebones

Yesica Gutierrez

boards as
Latrunculi.
Named Calculi,
which means
"stones" (or
"pebbles" or
"counters") in
Latin
Two players sat
across from each
other and placed
their 15 black or
white pieces
(presumably
stacked) on the
first square on
their side of the
board.

cannot make a
double open- ended
three only if they are
forced to do so.

same boards as
Latrunculi.

Two players sit across

from each other and
placed their 15 black
pieces on the first
square on their side of
the board. The players
each tossed a set of
three dice from a cup
and would move their
pieces according to
the value of the throw.
The point of the game
is to get all the ones
pieces across the
board to the 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.

Duodecim
Scripta means
"Twelve Lines"
or Twelve Lines
of the
Philosophers
and was played
on a board.

The Romans called

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

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.
Hold all five jacks in
your hand. Throw
them up, turn your
hand over quickly and
catch as many as you
can on the back of
your hand.

Playing Dice was

very popular
game among
the Romans.

It's easier to catch

them if you spread
your fingers a
little bit.

When exactly
the Greeks and
Romans adopted
this game is also
unknown. Still
its popularity in
antiquity is
confirmed by
abundant
archaeological

GAD
Activity 1.11

Terni Lapilli

Patolli

Aztec Ball

Yesica Gutierrez

Terni Lapilli board

was recently
uncovered in the
British Museum
which included
four blue pieces
and five red
pieces.

Terni Lapilli is
considered to be
identical to modern
Tic-Tac-Toe.

One of the oldest

games of the
Americas. Reports
are Montezuma
enjoyed watching
the nobles play in
a game at court.
Patolli is a
race/war game
with a focus on
gambling on
blankets, stones,
or food.

The object of the

game is for a player to
win all of the
opponent's treasure. A
player needs to get all
of the six jade
markers from the
starting queue
position to the ending
square position on the
game board before
the other player. 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.
Get the ball through
the stone hoop. The
coach of the losing
team, by the fate of
the gods, is chosen to
die.

The Aztec ball

game was actually
a revision of an
ancient
Mesoamerican
game that was
played by many
peoples including
the Mayans.
This is the Royal

The Royal Game of Ur

and visual
evidence: not
only have
numerous
knucklebone
pieces been
found at various
sites, but the
game itself
whether played
by men, women
or children- is
frequently
depicted in
painting and
sculpture.
A Terni Lapilli
board was
recently
uncovered in the
British Museum
which included
four blue pieces
and five red
pieces.
Patolli is a
race/war game
with a focus on
gambling on
blankets,
stones, or food.

When the Aztecs

started a new
settlement,
there were two
things they
would do.

Race game that

GAD
Activity 1.11

Royal Game
of Ur

Senet

Mancala

Yesica Gutierrez

Game of Ur, a
board game made
between 2600 and
2400 BC. It was
found in
Mesopotamia
(modern Iraq).

Many actual
boards, with their
counters and
throw sticks (or
knucklebones)
have survived
intact, but the
rules of the game
are not fully
understood, there
have been a
number of
attempts to
reconstruct the
game.

The word mancala

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

was played with two

sets, one black and
one white, of seven
markers and three
tetrahedral dice. The
rules of the game as it
was played in
Mesopotamia are not
completely known but
there have been a
number of
reconstructions of
gameplay
Throw the sticks to
see how many
squares to move your
piece forward.
If you throw a one,
four, or six, you get an
extra turn.
You can't land on one
of your own pieces.
If you land on the
other player's piece,
you switch places with
them. However, you
can't switch with them
if they have two or
more pieces in a row.
If the other player has
three or more pieces
in a row, you can't
pass them.
Some squares are
safe' squares and
some are danger'
squares. You will learn
what they are as you
play.
The first player to get
all of their pieces off
the board wins the
game.
Mancala games share
a general gameplay
sequence of picking
up all seeds from a
hole, then sowing
seeds one at a time
from a hole, and
capturing based on
the state of board.
The object of mancala

predates
Backgammon

The game
required
strategy as well
as chance.

Mancala games
play a role in
many African
and some Asian
societies
comparable to
that of chess in
the West.

GAD
Activity 1.11

Shatranj

Tafl

Liubo

Chaturanga

Yesica Gutierrez

Is an old form of
Chess popular in
Persia for almost a
1000 years. The
word shatranj is
derived from the
Sanskrit
chaturanga
(chatuH=four,
anga= arm).

Family of ancient
Germanic and
Celtic board
games played on
a checkered or
latticed board with
two teams of
uneven strength.

Liubo is a ancient
Chinese boardgame whose rules
are forgotten.
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

games is usually to
capture more stones
than the opponent;
sometimes, one seeks
to leave the opponent
with no legal move or
to have your side
empty first in order to
win.
The pieces are set up.
much as they are in
our modern chess.
The White side has his
King (the larger piece)
on the left, and the
Black side has the
King on his right, so
that the two face each
other. The King, for
instance, moves one
square in any
direction. He has no
power of castling.
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 kingpiece which started in
the center.
The Kings objective
was to escape while
the opponents job
was to capture him.
Liubo is a ancient
Chinese board-game
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

The game came

to Persia from
India, in the
early centuries
of the Christian
Era.

Family of
ancient
Germanic and
Celtic board
games played
on a checkered
or latticed board
with two teams
of uneven
strength.

Liubo is a
ancient Chinese
board-game
whose rules are
forgotten.
Chaturanga has
been played
since the 6th
century or
earlier, hence
Chaturanga is
most commonly
believed to be
the oldest
The object of

GAD
Activity 1.11

Go

Seega

Yesica Gutierrez

China at least
2,000 years ago.

The ancient game

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

players. The two

players alternately
place black and white
stones on the vacant
intersections of a 19 x
19 grid board. The
object of the game is
to control a larger part
of the board than the
opponent. Players
strive to place their
stones in such a way
that they cannot be
captured, while
mapping out
territories the
opponent cannot
invade without being
captured.
The rules and
materials are simple
but it involves plenty
of strategy. 5 x 5
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.

the game is to
control a larger
part of the
board than the
opponent.

The larger
boards are more
complex, and
created a
greater
challenge for the
players.