Detroit evening times., 1943-08-08
Why Our
Soldiers Roll.
The Bones

FIGHTING men want quick action in their games and
p probably that why dice have been favorite with
] soldiers for than 900 recorded years.
Roman legonnares spent their. spare time in camp,
whether distant Britain in Gaui the banks
OF the Danube, in the forests Of Germany or on the
burning sands OF Africa, rolling the bones.
And only a months some 10000 sets of dice
shipped to the American Expeditionary Forces in
Great Britain by paternal quaermaser corps to enven
their leisure hours
But dice were in history Caesars tossed
them for their scanty and plentiful loot ln fact h"
Romans got dice and the games played with them from
Most authorities credit the world shaking idea
to certain Psalamedes who fourished in Greece about
1850 BC.
However Pluarch gave credit for the invention the
Egyptians and after ALL IL from them that the Greeks
got civilization Probably dice rolling
their merry way long before 1880 BE- which only
yesterday when Egyptian culture is being considered
Herodotus insisted that the Lydans invented them.
There references 10 dice games in the plays Of
Aeschylus sophocles and unquestionably gambling
with dice highly popular with the who fought at
Marathon and Saamis who followed Henophon into Persia
conquered the world for Alexander the Great
When the Romans into contact with Greek cul-
ture they took throwing
thusasm. Dice in Latin known ''resserae from
"tessera meaning cube and the dicing game was known
as 'alea"
When julius Caesar through the little called
the Rubcon his way TO conquer Rome and gain
pershabe fame tradition that he remarked "aloa
jacta est the game has been thrown or the
dice have been thrown Caesar as soldier thought very
naturally terms Of fighting mans most popular game.
But long before Caesar soldiers returning TO Rome
from their campaigns in the east had brought with them
the dice game and it became immensely popular
Nero who fdded while Rome burned, might equally
well have shot dice with cronics noted
the bones and gave imperial approval TO the
gambling of the wealthy classes In the later days
Of the empire dice had grown popular that rich men
frequently bet their whole fortunes throw Natur
ally laws passed to check gambling with dice one Of
these ouawed dice games II months out Of the
mittng their only in December Like many similar laws
paid much attention TO them.
In the first half Of the 14th century the game had
achieved great popularity England one chronicler writ
ing of the great tournament held in London by Edward III
in 20 eel q
that Henry Picard who Lord Mayor OF London kept
his hall against all comers that willing play dice
hazard The Lady Margaret his wife did keep to her
chambers 30 the same intent"
Furthermore the Lord Mayor to have been right
handy with the gaopng domnoes for the writer goes on
to state that he won so marks considerable sum for the
period the King Of Cyprus and returned his losses
to the monarch saying My lord and king be not ag-
greved for l covet not your gold but your play
The usual number of dice used in a game was three,
the winner being player threw the highest number
spots simple fast and could understand
it. Later nnumerable games played with dice were in
vented Today anywhere Americans TO be found the
two leading dice games are craps and poker dice
However games and go. In the last so years
at games seldom heard of today have been
extremely popular in this country The simplest was vr-
tualy the the most ancient of dice games Three
dice used and every player had three throws the
total amount Of the spots shown being his score with the
highest winning,
Another popular game at tho turn of the century
Rafes in which also used In this
player rolls until he throws "A matching pair or three
matching dice The number spots shown indicated the
winner Obviously the best possible throw was three sixes
-otAar- games Round Tho Spot, Centennial Mul-
tiplication Going Boston Poker Vingt Ace in
the Spot Help NeEhbor- Of course there were
always thousands who hoped for Ada In Decatur
Little Joe and their pals
The interesting OF these aside from craps,
was Vngt in which quite similar TO the card game
of one dice only was used and the player had
as many throws as he wanted TO make 21-untn ne
ceeded mystic number.
American fighting men. In camp, cantonment, BIZ
voIac and gout shipboard and the bomb bays OF
planes will stick cursng snake eyes and box and
pleading for naturals.