Archaeologists Found Game Pieces Used by Ancient Roman Soldiers

Archaeologists have been excavating the ancient Roman city of Hadrianopolis, near Eskipazar, in what we today call Turkey. They have now discovered two tokens made out of bone dating back to the fifth century CE. These tokens are believed to have been part of a strategic board game played by Roman soldiers.

One of the tokens featured a four-armed symbol, while the other an eight-armed symbol. These symbols likely indicated their roles in the game. However, what game that was is up for debate. Researchers do have their theories.

Archaeologists Find Game Pieces Used By Ancient Romans Who Played Tabletop Strategy Game

One suspected game was called Ludus Latrunculorum, a name that could have used some focus testing to make it a little catchier. It was a two-player Roman strategy game in the chess/checkers/backgammon family of strategic military tactics-style board games.

It’s as if in thousands of years, alien archaeologists find a little silver thimble and a top hat in the dust of what used to be Earth and correctly surmise that we were obsessed with money.

The English translation of Ludus Latrunculorum is much catchier: Game of Mercenaries, which, admittedly, sounds more like the subtitle to a C-list military videogame than it does a board game.

We don’t know the exact rules, since no Roman was forward-thinking enough to preserve the pamphlet the set came with when they bought it from Walmart, but archaeologists believe the objective was to capture an opponent’s pieces by surrounding them with two of their pieces.

The game was played throughout the Roman Empire, but especially by soldiers, as it allowed them to continue thinking strategically while unwinding between battles. Now, if only we could find evidence of ancient Roman soldiers painstakingly painting little mini figures of orcs and Space Marines.