Handmade leather ROTA ancient Roman board game

Reenactment groups dealing with the Roman Empire often reconstruct easy aspects of daily life, such as games and entertainment. Board games are well attested in Roman society in particular, as such inscribed boards have even been found carved in the stones of the forum. ROTA is the most popular, simple yet tricky game. The name is the Latin for "wheel", due to its round, spiked shape.

Making a rota board is quite easy - all one needs is a round piece of timber or leather and six game pieces. My variant is made out of leather, hand cut and sewed, and blue and transparent glass pieces. The  "board" can easily turn into a pouch with the aid of perimetral perforations and leather cord. This leather ROTA is available at atelieruldeistore.ro 

Read about the rules HERE.

Rota leather pouch

Rota board and game pieces

Detail - ancient Roman rota game

Reenactment at Camp Virtus

I am involved in the creation of a reenactment park near Cluj-Napoca, in the village of Salicea, called Camp Virtus. It is the initiative of another NGO, the Virtus Antiqua and it aims at presenting various aspects of military and civilian life during Antiquity. The parts I like best are those I have already organized during summer camps over the past years: ancient clothing, perfume, and cosmetics; ancient games (especially board games such as Rota and Duodecim scripta); and interactive activities with drawing.

ROTA championship

The real TOGA party

Drawing a Dacian warrior in full attire

Drawing a Roman centurion

 In April we will have a full week of activities for pupils, during the national Scoala Altfel program. Feel free to join! The estimated visit is of 80 minutes and includes several workshops in open air: bow and arrow target practice, presentation of Roman and Dacian military and civilian costumes, ancient games, workout (gladiators, Roman auxiliary soldiers).