Tabula (game)

Tabula (Latin for the board ) is considered as a further development of the Roman game Duodecim Scripta and is now considered a direct ancestor of backgammon.

Around the beginning of our era arrived in Rome on more and more variants of the already well-known and popular game Duodecim Scripta, which had evolved from the ancient Egyptian game Senet. Objective of the rule changes was to refine the somewhat rigid game and make it more exciting. One of the most popular variants was the Tabula, which was played on the same board as Duodecim Scripta, the currently known backgammon game box.

Essentially, Tabula differed from its predecessor Duodecim Scripta fact that it was now possible to beat the opponent's pieces. In contrast to backgammon but you still played it with three dice.

Tabula was a favorite of the Emperor Claudius, who has also written a book about it, but this is not known.

Like all gambling was Tabula officially banned in ancient Rome and could therefore only be played "private".

• Backgammon
• Historical game