Roman
Board Games
by Wally J. Kowalski
Tali & Tropa
Tali, commonly known today as Knucklebones,
was perhaps the most popular game played among the Romans. It
resembled the game of dice except that sets of marked bones were
used, called tali. Tali was inherited from the ancient
Greeks, who had originally made the pieces from astragaloi,
or the knucklebones of sheep or goats, like the ones pictured
here.
Notice the tali on the bottom, which is made of brass. The Romans
would also make them from silver, gold, ivory, marble, wood,
bone, bronze, glass, terracotta, and precious gems.The original
shape of the tali, however, was preserved. These shapes would
sit on one of four sides when dropped.
The four sides of the tali were inscribed
with symbols, perhaps sometimes Roman numerals, and each had
a different value of 1, 3, 4, or 6. Four tali were dropped from
a moderate height over a gaming table or the ground. There were
variations on scoring. Numerical values did not have precedence
over a Venus, Vultures, or a Senio. Numerical values for the
other possibilities would represent a simple variation. In place
of numerical values, the concept of pairs of numbers could take
precedence, as it does in modern cards. Other rules could be
agreed upon at the start of the game, in much the same way as
is done at the beginning of a poker hand.
The scoring presented below is based on
simple numerical superiority, except for Venus, Senio, Vultures,
and Dogs (lowest of the Vultures). In the case of tying values,
poker-like rules prevail, that is, a triple beats a pair, but
two pair beat a triple. More advanced players could adapt other
poker-like rules as they please.
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SCORING RULES FOR TALI : |
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(1,3,4,6) :Venus -- all four tali
with different sides. |
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(6,6,6,4) : Total = 22 |
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(6,6,6,3) : Total = 21 |
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(6,6,4,4) : Total = 20 |
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(6,6,6,1) : Total = 19 (high) |
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(6,6,4,3) : Total = 19 |
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(6,6,3,3) : Total = 18 |
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(6,6,4,1) : Total = 17 |
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(6,6,3,1) : Total = 16 |
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(4,4,4,3) : Total = 15 |
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(6,6,1,1) : Total = 14 (high) |
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(4,4,3,3) : Total = 14 |
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(4,4,4,1) : Total = 13 |
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(4,4,3,1) : Total = 12 |
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(4,3,3,1) : Total = 11 |
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(4,4,1,1) : Total = 10 (high) |
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(3,3,3,1) : Total = 10 |
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(4,3,1,1) : Total = 9 |
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(3,3,1,1) : Total = 8 |
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(4,1,1,1) : Total = 7 |
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(3,1,1,1) : Total = 6 |
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(6,x,x,x) : Senio -- a single six
and anything |
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(6,6,6,6) : Vultures -- all four
tali the same |
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(4,4,4,4) : Vultures -- all four
tali the same |
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(3,3,3,3) : Vultures -- all four
tali the same |
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(1,1,1,1) : Dogs -- lowest of the
Vultures |
Surprisingly, only one ambiguity occurs
with the above numerical precedents, at the value 14. In this
case the highest pair (the sixes) is assumed to have numerical
precedence over the other highest pair (of fours).
In a variation played by the Emperor Augustus,
anyone throwing the Dogs put 4 coins in the pot, and the first
player to throw a Venus would take all.
One could create a simple set of tali playing
pieces by blanking the 2's and the 5's on four dice, but then
the ones that came up blank would have to be re-dropped. Tetrahedra
might be a good modern alternative, but one could also cut up
a pair of chopsticks and mark the sides.
Tropa
One variation on Tali involved throwing
the dice into the narrow neck of a glass jar. Players would compete
in this game and it clearly involved skill as well as chance.
Three dice were tossed, or perhaps four astragaloi, and
only the score of those that entered the jar would count. The
scoring may have followed that of Tali, as detailed above.
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