Ancient Roman Game Board at Hadrian’s Wall

Just last month, this stone slab from an Ancient Roman military camp in Britain was discovered. Historians have identified it as a board for the game called “Ludus Latrunculorum” or “the mercenary game” which we know about from other sources. The speculation is that it ran along the lines of “checkers.” It offers a glimpse of the ordinary pastimes of Roman soldiers. The stone was broken and then repurposed in Vindolanda, one of the forts along Hadrian’s Wall in northern Britain.