Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum

XII scripta board in the museum at Ephesus

Logo of the game

***Ludus duodecim scriptorum***, or ***XII scripta***, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. The game *tabula* is thought to be a descendant of this game, and both are similar to modern backgammon.

## Historical notes

The earliest known mention of the game is in Ovid's *Ars Amatoria* (*The Art of Love*) (written between 1 BC and 8 AD). An ancient example of the game was excavated at the archaeological site of Kibyra in southern Turkey.

## Gameplay

Very little information about specific gameplay has survived. The game was played using three cubic dice, and each player had 15 pieces. A possible "beginners' board", having spaces marked with letters, has suggested a possible path for the movement of pieces.

## Gameplay in *Ancient Games*

XII Scripta is the third game published by the Ancient Games collection. It features in total 42 Avatars, 28 Boards and 6 Dices, and it's still in v2 beta.

This time, the dice looks and works like a regular six-faced dice, and there are two of them. The player rolls the dice and move a pawn to the central row (right side for player 1, left side for player 2), according to the result. He/she then follows the path from 1 to 24, starting from the square on the upper corner, and crossing all squares on the upper and lower rows. The two dice are independent: the first one can be used to move a pawn, and the second can either be used to move the same pawn or another one.

Once they have left the central row, pawns can be stacked up or moved separately. A lone pawn is always vulnerable, and if attacked, it will be removed from the board, and will have to restart again. A pile made of at least two stacked pawns is safe until it is attacked by a bigger pile. A pawn that joined a pile cannot leave it until it is time to leave the board.

Only one pawn can exit the board at a time. In the case of pile, it will be the top pawn. Of course, to take a pawn out of the board and score a point, a player needs an exact throw. Six points (thus all of own pawns taken out of the board) are needed to win.

## Gallery

### Boards

Basic Board (Light)Basic Board (Dark)iScripta Board - can be obtained for free by rating the appSteampunk Board - Bonus rare Victory Chest itemEighties Board - Bonus rare Victory Chest itemImprovised Board - Bonus rare Victory Chest itemAphrodisias - Level 5 BoardEkoi Board - Level 10 BoardSumerian Board - Level 15 BoardTutankhamun Board - Level 20 BoardSpring Board - 1 VictorySummer Board - 10 VictoriesAutumn Board - 25 VictoriesWinter Board - 50 VictoriesAir Board - 100 VictoriesEarth Board - 250 VictoriesWater Board - 500 VictoriesFire Board - 1000 VictoriesEgyptian Board - available at the StoreArabic Board - available at the StoreGreek Board - available at the StoreRoman Board - available at the StorePersian Board - available at the StoreKorean Board - available at the StoreAztec Board - available at the StoreMayan Board - available at the StoreSamoan Board - available at the StoreAboriginal Board - available at the Store

## See also

* Royal Game of Ur
* Senet

 Concepts
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