## Quick Facts - Material design of ancient board game ranges from elaborate jeweled boxes to scraps of leather moved across sketches in the dirt. - The ancient Egyptian game Mehen was played by ~6 people on a circular board that resembles a coiled snake. - [Hounds & Jackals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hounds_and_jackals) (aka 58 Holes) was popular for about 2,000 in ancient Mesopotamia and resembles nothing so much as cribbage; it's a "race" game involving dice rolls. - The Chinese "version" of chess (Xiangqi) is [played on the points of intersecting lines, instead of squares](http://ancientchess.com/page/play-xiangqi.htm). The [oldest variants](http://ancientchess.com/page/play-shatranj.htm) I'm aware of were played in Persian [and India](https://www.britannica.com/topic/chess/History) around the 7th century. - Early Roman prohibitions against gambling came out of the pagan tradition; Christianity was very slow to develop anti-gambling dogma. ## The Death of Games Senet, which is played on a 3x10 grid of squares, is an ancient Egyptian board game played by Tutankhamun and Nefertari. It started out as a secular game, but developed ritual significance as a metaphor for the afterlife. It was [popular until the rise of Christianity](https://web.archive.org/web/20060712175805/http:/www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Piccione/index.html). ## Replacement Games Between 400 & 1100 CE, strategy games collectively known as Tafl were popular in Nordic countries. Game boards look a lot like hopscotch grids etched into a hunk of concrete, to be honest. It was [popular until the spread of Chess](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/best-board-games-ancient-world-180974094/). ## Gambling Lives The Mesoamerican game of Patolli was played with remarkably high stakes; players sometimes wagered their freedom & their lives. The "board" was usually a mat (but could be sketched into the dirt); there were 70 spaces for pieces. Apparently, [the government tried to discourage people from playing](https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/gambling-and-patolli-the-aztecs-favourite-game). ## Gambling Laws Rome, by contrast, considered sports betting — betting on the outcome of chariot races or contests of strength — to be pretty much fine, a simple matter between friends — or a way to [encourage excellence in the soldering class](https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=glj). It was _dicing_ games that led to a whole cottage industry. Laws against them were passed during the late Republic period, right around the time several other [sumptuary laws](https://eleanorkonik.com/sumptuary-laws/) %% ( [[2021-10-11 Sumptuary Laws (DRAFT)]] ) %% were being passed. Justinian later codified more, to help curb corruption. --- 📗 ICYMI: If you found this interesting, you may also enjoy the edition on [puberty rites & pancakes: a brief history of racing](https://eleanorkonik.com/racing/) %% ( [[2021-11-29 Racing (DRAFT)]] ) %%. 💚 If you learned something from this overview, consider forwarding it to a friend and encouraging them to [sign up](https://eleanorkonik.com/membership/) for more research deep dives into obscure history and science. 🎲 Do you have a favorite story about the relationship between gambling, dice & gaming? Please reach out — I'd love to hear about it, either via email or in [a comment](https://eleanorkonik.com/games/#cove-comments) %% ( [[2022-02-07 Games]] ) %% where other readers can see.