ludus duodecim scriptorum & duodecim scripta,

Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire.

It was played anywhere that Rome controlled. Most boards found are stone. It was so popular that most of the surviving game boards found around cities were professionally carved. it seems like there were plenty of public boards, Like the chess boards in the city park today. It is believed that folks carried playing pieces and dice with them. The game pieces were called pessoi, the name of another game; much in the way a checker piece derives its name from the game Pessoi was also a game. Pessoi as a proper noun implies little round pebbles or pottery sherds. 

Eventually, the Boards changed and became a  worded board with tongue in cheek jokes and poems and even menus. It is speculated that this came about because of a Rome-wide ban on gambling with dice. If an official walked into a restaurant and saw a menu on the table with money coins on it it could easily be explained as buying food, not gambling. This version is called duodecim scripta, there is an actual board that may have been a teaching aid board that has the pattern of play
Written twelve it the exact translation of Duodecim Scripta and Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum means game written twelve. This means a Game of 12 lines. 

The boards below illustrate the concept of 12 lines. The one with A, B ,C, D, E, helps illustrate gameplay and movement.

The game is played with 2 players, 3 six-sided dice and 15 game pieces (Pesspi) each

The A area is where Pesspi, first enters the board. Each player has one side of the A rows

****** ******     IIIIII IIIIII    CCCCCC  BBBBBB
****** ******     IIIIII IIIIII     AAAAAA   AAAAAA

****** ******     IIIIII IIIIII     DDDDDD EEEEEE

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6  a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6
A player in their turn rolls the 3 dice and can place one Pessoi per die on a space that corresponds with the value
EXP.1- the dice are a 2, 5, & 6 I can place a Pessoi on A2 A5 & A6. you may have more than one piece on any of your spaces. 
EXP.2-  Same dice roll place a Pessoi on the A6 then, move it to B5, then C1. Each space along the way must be a legal move unto itself for the Pessoi to be able to use it on its forward movement.
The next player then rolls and moves their Pessoi  (Lower case a for teaching here) SO they can similarly enter the board but on A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6. then proceed on to the B's and so on
C6 C5 C4 C3 C2 C1   B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 B1
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6      a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6
D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6   E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6
Players can have any number of their own Pessoi in any one space they occupy. When only one Pessoi occupies a space the opponent's Pessoi can land on the space and knock it off the board and it must start over again. If you're playing with coins as the playing pieces then the coin is kept by the opponent. 
A player may not land on a spot that has 2 or more of their opponents Pessoi on it.
If there is no space open that a Pessoi can move to on that player's turn with the roll that they have then they forfeit that portion of their move move. 
Movement goes from A to B to C to D to E with the goal of getting off the board. Any time a Pessoi is knocked off the board though the player it belongs to can not move another piece till they can roll and get those pieces back on the board. even if they still had other pieces not yet in play.
Removing Pessoi from the board 
To remove your Playing pieces from the board all of your available Pessoi must be on the board in play.
You can play one of many ways to exit.  Just agree before starting on which way.
1. all game Pessoi of a player must be in the E section to start being removed once this has occurred then only 1 dice is rolled by that player and only Pessoi of the exact roll may exit. they can be moved further down the board if that is the only move possible. otherwise, no move means forfeit of that turn.
2. as long as odd of a player's pieces are on the board in play then a player may move pieces off the board by the exact roll, and continue using 3 dice the whole time of the game.










http://jnsilva.ludicum.org/HJT1516/ED.pdf
http://www.ccbucciero.com/blog/grossly-mistaken-roman-recycling
https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8287

Duodecim Scripta, was said to be the favorite game of Emperor Claudius.(10 bc-54 ad /reigned 41-54AD) The earliest mention of the game is in Ovid's  Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) (written between 1 BC & 8 AD). An example of the game was excavated at the archaeological site of Kibyra in southern Turkey. The Ars amatoria (The Art of Love) is a series of three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD.

Hand stamped board on linen with Flame worked glass pessoi and Pyorgphyed Wooded Dice the I make and sell email me for prices. I also Print these on cotton and silk to fit your budget. Much lighter than a stone board wouldn't you say.