Ludus latrunculorum

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, as it 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 game of latrunculi is believed to be a variant of earlier Greek games known variously as petteia, pessoí, psêphoi, poleis and pente grammaí, to which references are found as early as Homer's time. In Plato's Republic, Socrates' opponents are compared to "bad Petteia players, who are finally cornered and made unable to move." In the Phaedrus, Plato writes that these games come from Egypt. Latrunculi is often compared to a draughts-like game with custodial capture, called seega, known in Egypt from the late 18th century.
In his Onomasticon, the Greek writer Julius Pollux describes poleis as follows:
Among the Romans, the first mention of latrunculi is found in the Roman author Varro (116–27 BC), in the tenth book of his De Lingua Latina ("On the Latin Language"), where he mentions the game in passing, comparing the grid on which it is played to the grid used for presenting declensions. An account of a game of latrunculi is given in the 1st-century AD Laus Pisonis:
Allusions to the game are found in the works of such writers as Martial and Ovid and they provide ideal evidence as to the method of capture used in the game with passages such as: unus cum gemino calculus hoste perit, Ov. Ars amatoria 3.358 ("when one counter perishes by a twin foe"); cum medius gemino calculus hoste perit, Ov. Tristia 2.478 ("when a counter perishes in the midst by a twin foe"); and calculus hae (sc. tabula) gemino discolor hoste perit, Mart. 14.17.2 ("a counter of differing colour perishes on this [board] with a twin enemy").
Ovid also writes about the efforts to rescue an isolated piece away from the others: "how the different colored soldier marches forth in a straight line; when a piece caught between two adversaries is imperiled, how one advancing may be skilful to attack and rescue a piece moved forward, and retreating may move safely, not uncovered" (Tristia II 477–480). According to Ulrich Schädler, this indicates that the pieces in the game only moved one space per turn, instead of using the Rook's move, otherwise an isolated piece's escape would have been relatively easy. Schädler also deduces from this that pieces were able to jump over other pieces into an empty square beyond, otherwise a rescuing piece could end up blocking the other piece needing rescue.
The last mention of latrunculi that survives from the Roman period is in the Saturnalia of Macrobius.
For a long time, it was thought that the eighteenth book of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae contains a reference to latrunculi, and this was used to argue that the pieces on either side were of different powers and classes like the pieces in chess. R. G. Austin has argued, however, that the passage from Isidore on which this belief was based refers to an early form of Tabula.
The Stanway game, excavated near Colchester, has been identified by scholars such as David Parlett as possibly being an example of latrunculi. If this is true then it is possible there was a second piece other than the soldiers used in the game, and this has been interpreted by some reconstructions as a piece representing a "Dux" (leader) or "Aquila" (eagle). However, Ulrich Schädler suggests the game may instead be an example of a native Celtic game, such as fidchell or gwyddbwyll, since there is no evidence for an extra piece other than the latrones or pessoi in any of the ancient Greek and Roman games.
Latrunculi as well as latrones is mentioned many times in Ruy López de Segura's classic 1561 work Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del axedrez, also referring to mentions in Jacobus de Cessolis's sermons on the theme of chess in the later thirteenth century.
Latrunculi is mentioned on the first page of Philidor's classic 1774 work "Analysis of the Game of Chess."
Myron J. Samsin and Yuri Averbakh have both supported the theory that Petteia may have had an influence on the historical development of early chess, particularly the movement of the pawns. Petteia games could have certainly been brought to central Asia and northern India during the rule of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Indo-Greek Kingdom which were known to combine Indian and Greek elements in their art, coinage, and religious practices.
When chess came to Germany, the chess terms for "chess" and "check" (which had originated in Persian) entered the German language as Schach. But Schach was already a native German word for robbery. As a result, ludus latrunculorum was often used as a medieval Latin name for chess.
Since, in archaeological excavations, it is usually hard to tell what game a gridded board was used for, it is hard to determine the size of the board on which latrunculi was played. R. C. Bell, writing in 1960, mentioned boards of 7×8, 8×8, and 9×10 squares as common in Roman Britain. W. J. Kowalski refers to the "Stanway Game", an archeological find of 1996 in Stanway, Essex, England, and believes the game was played on a board of 8×12 squares; the same size that was used a thousand years later for courier chess. He later allowed a board of 10×11 squares. The rules may have varied much across the width of the Roman Empire and through time.
Use a normal checkerboard with 8×8 squares. The two players agree about the number of pieces, at least 16, but not more than 24 for each player. If the board is larger, then the number of pieces increases too. Use pieces such as coins or hemispheres with different sides that can be flipped...
Latrunculi in two different reconstructions by Schädler based on the literary evidence may be played online at the Locus Ludi website.
These are the rules from the Museum Quintana [de] in Künzing (pictured above):
In China the various board games in the family of Fang Qi have similar rules. Typically board size varies from 4×4 in Korea (Gonu) to 17×17 in Tibet. Most varieties have the initial "Placing Stone" phase, followed by the "Removing Stone" phase (if any), and then finally the "Capturing Stone" phase.