Hobbies And Interests
Pilae
Roman ball games or pilae were a popular way for civilians and soldiers to keep fit. Unlike modern ball games, they were mostly played by passing a ball with the arms or legs. A popular game with soldiers on campaign was Harpastum, a game played on in an area rather like a modern soccer pitch. The ball was thrown about the pitch and players were tackled in the same way as rugby or football. Another popular ball game was Trigonalis. Played by three people standing in a triangle, the aim of the game was to throw the ball from person to person without dropping it.
Board Games
Played on boards of wood, bronze or marble known as tabulae lusoriae or a simple grid scratched on the street, board games were popular throughout Roman society. As with modern games, they relied on the throw of a dice to dictate the movement of glass or bone counters. Tabula, a favorite game of the emperor Claudius was played on a board similar to that of modern backgammon. Other games used the familiar grid of checkered boards of today. The aim of Calculi or 'five in a row' was to line up five stones in a line -- although not in two directions at once. Latrunculi or 'mercenaries' was similar to chess. The most unfamiliar of Roman board games was Felix Sex or 'lucky sixes'. This game involved moving pieces along columns of letters or words spelling out lucky phrases.
Dice Games
Amongst the most popular roman games were dice games. The games were also amongst the most disreputable because of the bets. Such was the Roman mania for gambling that legislation was enforced to curb it, making it legal to gamble only during Saturnalia. This drove many dice games off the streets and into private 'gambling clubs' where money was replaced by gambling chip. Games were commonly played with two or three dice, shaken in a cup. Tesserae used three, with the highest scoring throw being three sixes -- the Venus throw. Roman dice were very similar to modern dice except that each opposite side added up to seven. The exception was the dice used to play Tali or knucklebones. Four sided, with two flat sides and two curved sides, the dice were shaped to resemble the sheep bones that the dice were originally made from.
Games of Chance
Other games that roman's liked to bet on were games of chance. Par Impar was a game of odds and evens. A number of stones or nuts were hidden in a fist. The aim was for the other player to guess whether the hidden objects totaled an odd or even number. Micatio was a similar game involving fingers rather than nuts with each opponent casting numbers from 0 to 5 with his fingers.Navia aut capita was a form of heads or tails, using a coin with a ship on one side, hence the name.