This game was played all across the Roman Empire, in taverns, brothels, private homes, and frontier forts. Numerous boards have been found from Egypt to Britain, but especially in and around Rome. However, this game did not seem to have a name to distinguish it from either Duodecim Scripta or Tabula. We call this game Lucky Sixes — in Latin, Felix Sex. Although this game appears to be the same as Duodecim Scripta, the matter is not entirely clear. The evidence for and against this view is presented herein, and, regardless of the game actually played, we use the name Felix Sex to define those gaming boards containing six words of six letters.
Many experts believe this game is actually a modified version of Duodecim Scripta, with an extra line down the middle. Why the name would remain the same is difficult to understand, with the Romans being such a precisely spoken people. Even the game alea came to be called tabula since, although it was gambling, it was played on a board or table. In this game of six lettered words, there are neither twelve words or letters, and there are no lines at all. Nevertheless, this is the generally accepted style of play, and, in this form, it bears a strong resemblance to Egyptian Senet, which had 30 squares. It may be, speculatively, that the words simply disguised the board, since gambling was technically illegal.
The word scripta is generally considered to mean ‘lines’, but, according to Austin, could also be interpreted as ‘markings’. Some sources define scripta as ‘writing’, and in that sense it becomes equivalent to ‘words’. The problem, however, is that these Felix Sex boards contain neither 12 markings nor 12 words, but 36 letters or squares.
The picture shown above is redrawn from a board specimen in the British Museum. This board is not broken off at the top or bottom — the half-circles are engraved at the edge of the board. This is typical of many boards found like this. The proportions of the board suggest that playing pieces, the size of typical 20 mm bone roundels, could have been placed over the letters.
Consider the redrawn image of a complete gaming board shown at the below. This board was found at Qustul in Egypt, along with 15 black pieces, 15 white pieces, 5 dice and a fritillis. It dates no later than the 5th century AD. The similarity to the Felix Sex board is striking. The circles in the center and proportions seem almost identical. The only problem is — no-one seems to know if this is really a duodecim scripta board either.
Take a look also at the gaming board shown at below. This board was found in Britain, and belonged to a soldier of the 20th Legion in the 2nd century. The resemblance to the above boards is, once again, striking. Along with this board were found three dice, which would seem to confirm our understanding that three dice, not two or five, were used in this game.Most probably these are the same game, and an intriguing clue comes from the Roman port of Ostia, in Italy. A gaming board was found using not words, but letters alone, arranged as follows :
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C C C C C C
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B B B B B B
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A A A A A A
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A A A A A A
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D D D D D D
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E E E E E E
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The above arrangement strongly suggests what the proper direction of movement is in this game, and also seems to confirm the purpose of the Felix Sex boards. The rules for this game, the ‘Duodecim Scripta’ type rules, can now be generally formulated.
In this version of the game, three dice would have been tossed. The 15 pieces move first up the center line of letters, and then over to the left. Finally they would travel to the opposite side of letters and then off the board. As in Tabula, no pieces could move beyond the first ‘word’ until all pieces had entered the board. Likewise, no pieces could exit the board until all pieces had landed on the last word.
Felix Sex Gaming Tables
The marvelous thing about this game is that the words tended to spell out clever sentences. Mostly these related to gambling and good fortune, or matters with military overtones, indicating soldiers often played this game. Sometimes they were just words of encouragement, somewhat like fortune cookies.
This one is truly classic:
| LUDITE |
SECURI |
| QVIBVS |
AES EST |
| SEMPER |
IN ARCA |
“PLAY WITHOUT CONCERN WHEN YOUR PURSE IS FULL”
Here we have pure military joy:
| PARTHI |
OCCISI |
| BRITTO |
VICTUS |
| LUDITE |
ROMANI |
“THE PARTHIANS ARE DEAD, THE BRITONS DEFEATED, SPORT, ROMANS!”
This one is a fine example of irony:
| SPERNE |
LUCRUM |
| VERSAT |
MENTES |
| INSANA |
CUPIDO |
“REJECT THE WINNINGS. END THE DECEIT, THE MADNESS AND THE GREED.”
This one is merely descriptive of celebration :
| CIRCUS |
PLENUS |
| CLAMOR |
INGENS |
| IANUAE |
TENSAE |
“THE CIRCUS IS FULL, AN ENORMOUS CLAMOR, THE GATES ARE BULGING.”
This one makes you wonder if we really have it better:
| VENARI |
LAVARI |
| LUDERE |
RIDERE |
| OCCEST |
VIVERE |
“HUNTING, BATHING, PLAYING GAMES AND LAUGHING, THIS IS THE LIFE.”
This one is hilarious, and comes from a table in a tavern. Now although gambling was technically illegal, menus written in hexameter verse were certainly not.
| ABEMUS |
IN CENA |
| PULLUM |
PISCEM |
| PERNAM |
PAONEM |
“FOR DINNER: CHICKEN, FISH, HAM, PEACOCK”
This one was found in Rome:
| LEVATE |
DALOCU |
| LUDERE |
NESCIS |
| IDIOTA |
RECEDE |
“GET UP AND LEAVE, YOU DON’T KNOW THIS GAME, IDIOT, QUIT!”
Numerous boards have been found, all unique. Hexameter verses were published that could be used by anyone, although not all of these verses were truly hexameter. One set of these was called, surely in the best of humor, “The Lines of the Twelve Philosophers.”
