Two players have sixteen pieces each, which are arranged in two rows facing each other. The goal of the game is to capture all of the opponent's pieces. Roman people washed their clothes in urine. It sounds horrible, but this is because urine contains ammonia which is an excellent bleaching agent. Men used urinals on street corners and at the end of the day, the contents were collected and taken to laundries. They also used urine to whiten teeth! Secondly, our Romans Collecting Facts Board Game gets players to try and advance their God or Goddess around the board while collecting facts and bonuses but avoiding obstacles. Austin, R. G. (February 1935). "Roman Board Games. II". Greece & Rome. 4 (11): 76–82. doi: 10.1017/s0017383500003119. JSTOR 640979.

If a piece is moved voluntarily between two enemy pieces, it is not captured, but the player so moving should point out the fact, to avoid later disputes.

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Merrills (also known as Nine Men’s Morris), is a two-player strategy board game which appears to have originated in the Mediterranean or Middle East around 5,000 years ago. The aim of the game is to seize the opponent’s counters by forming mills (lines of three) on the board. The Dux can move like the rest of the pieces, or can jump over an enemy piece that is in an adjacent square. The jumped piece is not captured by the move. Of course, the move can have as consequence the capture of another piece. This is actually odds or evens. This game involved hiding a number of stones or nuts in one’s hand and the opponent having to guess whether it contained an odd or even number. It obviously lent itself to placing a small wager. Navia aut capita.

Or, for a Roman-themed take on a classic print our Roman Gods Pairing Game. Children match the cards that show the same God or Goddess and get to share a different fact from each. We also have a Roman Gladiator Board Game for children who just can’t get enough of the Colosseum. Creative Roman Games for KS2 Its popularity was probably due to the simplicity of creating the board and counters and the scalability of the game by adding more squares to the board (Twelve Men’s Morris). Boards were easily made by marking lines in stone, wood or earth. Some boards were portable and others were cut into architectural features. Similarly, counters could be crafted from bone, ceramic, stone or glass, but coloured pebbles were also used. Well, okay, some of them weren’t that intellectual and were more like gambling than a game of skill, but still – this is far from the world of gladiators. Ludus latrunculorum The ancient Romans were obsessed with pursuing intellectual greatness while accepting the concept of fate. They enjoyed complex, strategic games but were not afraid to risk it all at the roll of a dice. This unique contradiction of values led to some creative games that would then often be explored from a political or military perspective.Children will need to brush up on their knowledge of Ancient Rome to be the fastest chariot racer so this is an excellent way to motivate them to consolidate their knowledge of Ancient Rome with some fun, competitive spirit! Players start with four Senators and their number increases through the game as five buildings come into play. These Senators can be placed in the various buildings to gain promotions, recruit legions, take revenue and build cities, fortifications and fleets, gain victory points, and a whole lot more. Alternatively, the Senators flip to become Generals which the player then deploy with armies on their own map board to expand the Kingdom, Republic and Empire. Archeologists discovered a recent example of the game in 2014. The board was found in the remains of ancient baths in Turkey. Other early examples have shown boards graffitied with insults; one even used the game board as a menu for a restaurant. Interesting fact: It's believed that in the Ancient Rome this game had a strong association with math science.

The most common ancient Roman board games for entertainment were tic tac toe (aka as three-in-a-row or naughts-and-crosses), a game involving small cavities (presumably to hold marbles), the game of the twelve lines known as “ duodecim scripta“, a word game involving the composition of letters called “Reges” and lastly a chess-like game called “ latrunculi“. Guess Which Roman Gods and Goddesses - f you're a fan of Guess Who and history games for KS2, you'll love Guess Which Roman Gods and Goddesses! A fun two-player Roman game for your children to use descriptive vocabulary and develop communication skills while familiarising themselves with the Roman Gods and Goddesses.

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Tesserae was the word given to Roman dice and a number of the games played with them. These dice were made so that opposing sides would add to the number seven. Ludus Latrunculorum, Latrunculi, or simply Latrones ("the game of brigands", or "the game of soldiers" from Latrunculus, diminutive of Latro, mercenary or highwayman) was a two-player strategy board game played throughout the Roman Empire. It is said to resemble chess or draughts, but is generally accepted to be a game of military tactics. Because of the scarcity of sources, reconstruction of the game's rules and basic structure is difficult, and therefore there are multiple interpretations of the available evidence. The players take turns to place one piece on any vacant square. According to Bishop Isidore of Sevilla (Origines, chapter 64; 7th century) these pieces were called vagi. In this phase no captures are made. The pieces move orthogonally any unobstructed distance. A piece is captured when it is caught between two opposing pieces on adjacent squares in a rank or file. The captured piece is removed from the board. Victory is by capturing more pieces than one's opponent, or by hemming in the opponent's pieces so that movement is impossible.