Knucklebones

Knucklebones (aka Tali, Tropa)

Type: Dice
Status: Public domain / Historical
BGG entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/11726
Available from: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/boardgames6.html

From the Roman Board Games website:

'Tali, commonly known today as Knucklebones, was perhaps the most popular game played among the Romans. It resembled the game of dice except that sets of marked bones were used, called tali. Tali was inherited from the ancient Greeks, who had originally made the pieces from astragaloi, or the knucklebones of sheep or goats. The Romans would also make them from silver, gold, ivory, marble, wood, bone, bronze, glass, terracotta, and precious gems.The original shape of the tali, however, was preserved. These shapes would sit on one of four sides when dropped.

'The four sides of the tali were inscribed with symbols, perhaps sometimes Roman numerals, and each had a different value of 1, 3, 4, or 6. Four tali were dropped from a moderate height over a gaming table or the ground. There were variations on scoring.

'One variation on Tali, called Tropa involved throwing the dice into the narrow neck of a glass jar. Players would compete in this game and it clearly involved skill as well as chance. Three dice were tossed, or perhaps four astragaloi, and only the score of those that entered the jar would count. The scoring may have followed that of Tali.'