Home > Ludographies > Games Set in Ancient Rome

ANCIENT ROME BOARD GAMES
XV SEPTEMBRIS MMIX
Note: underlined text indicates a new entry.

Status Competition: AVE + CLAVIGOLA + COLOSSEUM + COMISSATIO ORGY + TRIBUN: DIE BRUTIER ERWEITERUNG + TRIBUNE EXPANSION + TRIBUNE: PRIMUS INTER PARES + FORUM ROMANUM + GLORY TO ROME + PALATINUS NON OLET + PALATINUS INSULA TIBERINA + QUO VADIS + ROMA + ROMA II + ROME IS BURNING + RÖMER + SYLLA + VILLA RUSTICA

Chariots: AVE CAESAR + BEN HUR + BEN HUR + BEN HUR CHARIOT RACE GAME + CHARIOT-RACE AT CARTHAGE CIRCUS + CHARIOTEER + CHASING CHARIOTS GAME + CIRCUS MAXIMUS + HAVE: CHARIOT WILL RACE + THE HIPPODROME + LUDI AT THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS + QUADRIGA

War: ATTILA + GLORIA MUNDI + HANNIBAL + HANNIBAL: THE WAR OF THE KINGS + KAMPF UM ROM + MURUS GALLICUS + OSTIA + ROMANS + TRIUMVIRATE + SEVEN HILLS OF ROME + STRUGGLE FOR ROME
(See also Military Games Set in Ancient Rome)

Pompeii: THE DOWNFALL OF POMPEII + POMPEII + POMPEII: DIE LETZTEN TAGE + POMPEII: THE LAST DAYS + POMPEII: XV + POMPEJI + POMPEJI: DIE LETZTEN 37 MINUTEN + DER UNTERGANG VON POMPEJI

Religion: CREDO + JOURNEYS OF PAUL + JOURNEYS OF ST. PAUL

Gladiators: BRUNCH AT THE COLISEUM + LUDUS ROMANUS

Etruscans: TUCHULCHA

Other: ASTERIX UND DIE RÖMER + BACCHUS + BACCHUS' BANQUET + BEIM JUPITER + CAESAR & CLEOPATRA + CALIGULA + CAPITOL + CARACALLA + CATILINE CONSPIRACY + CLEOPATRAS CABOOSE + CONSUL + HÄNDLER AUF DEM FORUM ROMANUM + MERCATOR + MUNICIPIUM + NEUE SPIELE IM ALTEN ROM + NEW GAMES IN OLD ROME + PECUNIA NON OLET + THE PRAETORIANS + PROCONSUL + ROMAN RUINS + ROME + RUBICON + SAECULUM + SATOR + SENATOR + STRADA ROMANA + TABULA - THE ROMAN GAME + TITUS + TRIBUNAL + 12 CAESARS + VIA ROMANA + WHEEL OF HISTORY

Related: HOW TO HOST A MURDER: ROMAN RUINS + RES PUBLICA + REVENGE IN ROME

Bibliography · Links

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ASTERIX UND DIE RÖMER
Klaus Teuber; Ravensburger; 1990; 2-6; 8+
(in French as Astérix et les Romains)
The players are racing to win a bet on who will collect the most Roman helmets. Dice game.
A L [Check Prices]
ATTILA
Karl-Heinz Schmiel; Hans-im-Glück; 2000
Despite their joint tradition of presenting systems which adhere closely to their themes, here designer Karl-Heinz Schmiel and publisher Hans-im-Glück have presented one in which point of view is somewhat difficult to locate. Instead in 370 AD one buys "shares" of different tribes such as Huns, Vandals and Goths and then scores points if first or second when the scoring round is triggered. Otherwise interesting however with a significant make-strategy-as-you-go feeling and quite a few interesting dilemmas. Reminiscent of Web of Power and in the tight integration of the subsystems, Die Macher.
Review L [Check Prices]
AVE
Valentin Herman; Fanfor; 2000
Features a map of Rome on a square grid on which are placed buildings, plazas and people. A map of the Mediterranean shows where players, representing Caesars, attempt to conquer. The Forum is where votes are taken to influence these decisions. Players earn victory points by placing buildings, streets, plazas and mines in Rome. But in order to do so, the senator with the right connections must be influenced to do so. At the same time, Rome is expanding its empire around the Mediterranean through conquest. This is also achieved through influencing the right senators. Supposedly much better than its very small and desktop-published print run would indicate. L [Check Prices]
AVE CAESAR
Wolfgang Riedesser; Ravensburger, 1989; Pro Ludo, 2006
Chariot racing in the Hippodrome. Plays easy and quick, but depends on players not overindulging in blocking moves to avoid becoming processional.
Review L [Check Prices]
BACCHUS' BANQUET
Alex Zucchini; Gryphon Games; 2009; 3-5
Players represent satyrs trying to attract like-dressed nymphs to three bacchanalia. L [Check Prices]
BACCHUS' BANQUET
Frederic Moyersoen; Mayfair, 2008; 2-5
Deduction card game of hidden identities and variable victory conditions, a bit like the inventor's previous work, Saboteur. One player is the emperor Caligula, three are conspirators trying to kill him and the rest are his relatives. Players draft and pass cards to further their progress toward victory. L [Check Prices]
BEIM JUPITER
Michael Feldkötter; Kosmos; 2008; 3-5
"By Jupiter" is a trick=taking card game in which trump and point values of tricks are determined by all players before each hand. There are 87 cards in all, including 60 cards ranked 1-14 plus 4 god cards, a Jupiter and a Juno card, 3 sacrificial lamb, 12 number of tricks cards numbered 1-12, 5 marker cards and 5 null trick cards. Played in 8 rounds, it's a game of declaring the number of tricks you can take to earn points. Before each hand, players each remove one card and place it face down. These cards determine not only the trump suit, but also how many points a trick is worth. (Possibly annoyance: if a player has only special cards, the entire hand needs to be re-dealt.) If any suit was chosen more than others, that suit is trump (note that this means there are fewer of these cards in play than any other suit). In case of ties, the suit having the high total number of ranks revealed is trump. If this fails, single highest card decides. If still tied, it's a no-trump hand. Then each player uses his card to indicate how many tricks he plans to take and another card to indicate how much a trick is worth by placing it next to the cards ranging from 1-12. Only once per game is it permitted to aim for zero tricks. Normal-trick taking rules apply with the requirements to follow suit, choice of trump or not if void, highest card (trump) wins, etc. Jupiter and Juno don't belong to any suit except for the trump suit and beat any trump. If both are played in the same trick, the first one down wins it. When god cards are played, the owner declares whether they are the highest or lowest in the trick. Even lower are the sacrificial lamb cards, whose advantage is that they are playable even when one would otherwise have to follow suit. L [Check Prices]
BEN HUR
McLoughlin Brothers; 1890; 2-4
Probably invented in response to the novel Ben-Hur, first published in 1880 by General Lew Wallace. May be the earliest game ever published on the Ancient Romans. Includes large game board, four wooden pawns, and two spinners. L [Check Prices]
BEN HUR
Historien Spielegalerie; 1987
Brettspiele L [Check Prices]
BEN HUR CHARIOT RACE GAME
William Wyler; Acorn Industries; 1957
Players bet to see which chariot will come in first place on the six-lane, rectangular space track. L [Check Prices]
BRUNCH AT THE COLISEUM
Michael L. Leeke; Inner City Games, 2002; 2-5
Playing the roles of slaves, gladiators or lions, players have a limited number of actions, e.g. run, eat to recover strength, pick up items, attack, taunt, throw a limb into the crowd, beseech the gods or work the crowd for food or weapons. L [Check Prices]
CAESAR
Jeff Siadek; The Gamesmiths/Prism Games; 1993
Players compete to build up legions, gold and aqueducts. The excitement of their being five different strategies to try out is not borne out in practice as it is too chaotic. Rules later revised in re-issue by Prism Games.
Review L [Check Prices]
CARACALLA
Herbert Schützdeller; ASS; 1991; 2-6
Players try to find their family members in the enormous Roman baths complex. Points are given for arranging to have only certain individuals in the same room; unwanted other player members hamper that. L [Check Prices]
CAESAR & CLEOPATRA
Wolfgang Ludtke; Kosmos, 1997; 2
Finely-tuned card game. Many who find two-player situations uninteresting will like this one, as well as games like Lost Cities and Schotten-Totten, probably because the inherent randomness of the card deck is in effect a third player with whom one must contend. Note for any whose memories may have been blown out by undergraduate work: memory plays a significant role here.
Review L [Check Prices]
CALIGULA
Pierluca Zizzi; Post Scriptum/Elfinwerks; 2009; 2-5
Card game set in 41 AD. The emperor has been murdered. Now it's time to plot to replace him with your own man. Includes acutions, drafting, negotiations and alliances, 110 cards, 100 tokens and instructions in five languages. L [Check Prices]
CAPITOL
Alan Moon & Aaron Weissblum; Schmidt; 2001
Building houses in Ancient Rome.
Review L [Check Prices]
CHARIOT-RACE AT CARTHAGE CIRCUS
Leila Ladjimi Sebai; alif; 1986; 2-4
aka Courses de Chars au Grand Cirque de Carthage
Unsurprisingly, features chariot racing at the Carthage circus. Movement is via die roll, an odd roll permitting lane change. Certain special board spaces contain instructions or permit play of particular cands in hand. Produced in Tunisia for the tourist market. L [Check Prices]
CHARIOTEER
Stephen Finn; Doctor Finn's Card Company; 2008; 2-5
Card-drafting and bidding game in which players recruit charioteers, buy strong horses and chariots, and try to appease the gods. L [Check Prices]
CHASING CHARIOTS GAME
Childrens World; (year unknown); 2-4
Game for children in which players move their chariots according to simultaneously-chosen action cards. Each tries to be first past the post. L [Check Prices]
CIRCUS MAXIMUS
Jeffrey Allers; Pegasus; 2008; 3-5
This is a card game in which players represent salesmen in ancient Rome who try to make the most money selling tickets for various events. Planned for October 2008. Is to arrive in a tin box. L [Check Prices]
CLAVIGOLA
Pietro Rubolino, Teodoro Mitidieri & Francesco Sciacqua; Hasbro; 2009
As Caligula's popularity is faltering every day, the players use commerce, intrigue and manipulation to vault into the imperial throne. L [Check Prices]
CLEOPATRAS CABOOSE
Steve Zamborsky; Z-Man Games; 2006
A humorous train game set in Ancient Egypt?! L [Check Prices]
COLOSSEUM
Wolfgang Kramer & Markus Lübke; Days of Wonder; 2007
Each player is a Roman impresario, producing great spectacles in the hopes of attracting the most spectators. L [Check Prices]
COMISSATIO ORGY
Julie Prior; Comissatio; 1988
Roll a die to move. Buy villas, slaves and chariots and race chariots. L [Check Prices]
CREDO
Chris Gidlow; Chaosium; 1993
Each player represents one of the factions within the Christian church, each one hoping that their particular doctrine will be accepted by the religion and thus become part of the creed.
Review: Game Cabinet L [Check Prices]
DER UNTERGANG VON POMPEJI
THE DOWNFALL OF POMPEII
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede; Amigo/Mayfair; 2004
Players try to make their fortunes and then get out before the volcano explodes. L [Check Prices]
FORUM ROMANUM
Wolfgang Kramer; Kosmos; 1988
Abstract tile-placing game on a grid. Image L [Check Prices]
GLORIA MUNDI
James Ernest & Mike Selinker; Abacus/Rio Grande; 2006
Satirical game in which players are alternately bribing barbarians not to attack or abandoning Rome as fast as their little legs will carry them.
Review L [Check Prices]
GLORY TO ROME
Carl Chudyk; Cambridge Games Factory; 2005
Card game in which players compete to be best at re-building Rome following the great fire of the Neronian era.
Review L [Check Prices]
HÄNDLER AUF DEM FORUM ROMANUM
Florian Isensee; Isensee Verlag; 2008; 4
"Merchants at the Roman Forum" is a card game of trading glass, grain, wood, wine and tin to purchase better production facilities and ultimately, prestige. Includes 92 cards. L [Check Prices]
HANNIBAL
Parker Brothers; 1974; 2
Racing game in which players try to get all 12 of their pieces to the opposite base camp by exact count. This is roll and move, Similar to Backgammon. L [Check Prices]
HANNIBAL: THE WAR OF THE KINGS
Kod Kod; 1990
A surrounding game played on an 8x8 grid. There appears to be little connection to the topic apart from the title. L [Check Prices]
HAVE CHARIOT WILL RACE
John Shaw; 2001; 2-8
Chariot racing around an oval track of rectangular spaces. Movement is in track position order, ties being broken by dice. Special rules determine how to treat collisions. L [Check Prices]
THE HIPPODROME
E.O. Clark; 1900
Said to sell for $175 or more. L [Check Prices]
JOURNEYS OF PAUL
Prismatech LLC; 2002
Players represent missionaries traveling through the Roman empire and starting churches. L [Check Prices]
JOURNEYS OF ST. PAUL
Eugene Dougherty; Avalon Hill; 1968
re-published by Innovative Game Technologies as Journeys of Paul
Racing game set in the Roman Empire. L [Check Prices]
LUDI AT THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS
Discere, Ltd.; 1989; 1-4
Combined chariot racing and word game! The chariots move by roll of the die. The ending spt gives the prefix of the word the player must give, without repeating a previously-given word game. L [Check Prices]
LUDUS ROMANUS
Oxford Games; 1996; 2
Place your plastic pieces into a mosaic design, then move them to capture opponent's pieces. L [Check Prices]
MUNICIPIUM
Reiner Knizia; Valley Games; 2008; 3-5
In the 2nd century AD players control powerful families in a western province. Each tries to place family members as Scholars, Merchants, Soldiers and Priests. The player with the most influence in each of these groups exerts power and gains support. L [Check Prices]
MURUS GALLICUS
Phil Leduc; (unpublished); 2
Abstract in which players try to penetrate the opponent's wall on a square grid.
NEUE SPIELE IM ALTEN ROM
Reiner Knizia; Piatnik; 1994
English translation called NEW GAMES IN OLD ROME.
Review L [Check Prices]
NEW GAMES IN OLD ROME
Reiner Knizia; 1996
English Translation of rules for NEUE SPIELE IM ALTEN ROM. Is actually a collection of games:
  1. CAESAR – for 2-5 players. Tile-laying game.
  2. CATILINE CONSPIRACY – for 3-5 players. Logical deduction game akin to Clue. Mainly it seems to be a matter of having luck in asking the right questions to the right players earliest. One wrinkle is that speculation is given a greater chance, but only to a very minimal extent.
  3. CIRCUS MAXIMUS – for 2-5 players. Chariot racing.
  4. CONSUL – for 2-4 players. Memory game.
  5. HANNIBAL VERSUS ROME – for 2 players. Most abstract of all of the many games on the Second Punic War. There is no real hidden information and it is mostly a matter of opportunistic tactics, but it is surprising how interesting this game of maneuver can be. Each player begins with slightly different forces, but with an identical set of cards which are used to resolve combat by simultaneous choose and compare. Engrossing for a few plays.
  6. IMPERIUM – for 2-5 players. Secret allocation game for up to five in which players try to dominate the empire. Actually the theme doesn't fit very well. Players each have an identical set of cards as in Raj and once again it is good strategy to try not to be overly ambitious, but this tends to happen as the last scored provinces are the most valuable. Interesting for a play or two, but highly unpredictable depending on the thought processes of the players.
  7. MERCATOR – for 3-7 players. Appears to be an early version of the game Medici. Later re-published as MUNICIPIUM.
  8. THE PRAETORIANS – for 2-4 players. Also a bit like Medici.
  9. PROCONSUL – for 3-5 players. Negotiation game.
  10. SENATOR – for 2-3 players. Similar to Labyrinth.
  11. SEVEN HILLS OF ROME – for 2 players. Card game sans map, the fight for the seven hills is represented by seven cards à la Schotten-Totten. Players compete for them by allocating cards from identical decks something like in Raj. The tricky issue is that cards are secret until both sides have allocated to the same hill in which case these cards become visible. Lacks flavor, but interesting for a play or two. Variants are also provided.
  12. SPARTACUS – for 3-5 players. Similar to Ohio.
  13. TRIBUNAL – for 4-7 players. Negotiation game.
  14. WHEEL OF HISTORY – for 2-5 players. Appears to be an early version of the game Tutanchamun.

Review [Book] L [Check Prices]
OSTIA
Stefan Risthaus; Pro Ludo/Mayfair; 2005; 3-5
Earn money and goods and donate some of them to the Senate. L [Check Prices]
PALATINUS
Alessandro Zucchini; daVinci; 2005; 2-5
In 780 BC participate in the original settlement of the seven hills of Rome. A tile-laying game in which farmers, merchants and soldiers participate. Depending on their ratios, only one type controls each hill and score points for the owning players. A great deal of the information is hidden as except for soldiers tiles are not revealed until the area is complete and ready for scoring. L [Check Prices]
PALATINUS INSULA TIBERINA
Alessandro Zucchini & Andrés Voicu; daVinci/Abacus/Mayfair; 2006; 2-5
This expansion kit was given away at Essen 2006. It is a new area, the Tiberian Island, which replaces an area from the original set drawn at random. L [Check Prices]
PECUNIA NON OLET
Knut Happel & Christian Fiore; Goldsieber, 2005; 2-6
In this card game players represent owners of pay water closets in ancient Rome, and seek to earn the most money. Side note: ancient Romans used urine as an agent to get togas their whitest white. To get the purple stripes, they used a dye made from rotting snails. One can only imagine what these togas must have smelled like. Think about that the next time you're watching Rome.
L [Check Prices]
POMPEII
Isaiah Tanenbaum; (unpublished); 2008; 1-6
Tile-laying game; players cooperate to save as many as possible.
POMPEII: DIE LETZTEN TAGE
POMPEII: THE LAST DAYS
Morgantini Simonini; Spiel exklusiv/Another Challenge; 1989; 2-8; 8+
Make money and then escape before the lava overwhelms.
Review: Game Cabinet L [Check Prices]
POMPEII: XV
Whittlecraft; 1-4
Based on conjectures of a game board found at the archaeological site.
POMPEJI
Frank Brandt; Adlung-Spiele; 2001
Light pattern-matching game in which players lay cards so that they do not match the cards next to them, but score by matching cards in the same row, column or diagonal.
Review L [Check Prices]
POMPEJI: DIE LETZTEN 37 MINUTEN
Jeff Widderich; CardChess International; 2005; 2-4
"The Last 37 Minutes" is a race to escape the lava, earthquakes and tsunamis before it's too late.
ROMA
Stefan Feld; Queen; 2005; 2
Abstract power struggle.
Review B L [Check Prices]
ROMA II
Stefan Feld; Queen; 2008
Re-make and/or expansion kit for the above Roma. B L [Check Prices]
QUADRIGA
Bernd Lindenberger, Ludger Fischer & Jürgen Franke; Spielbox; 1981; 2-8
Chariot teams race around an eight-lane track made up of hexagons. Each team covers two spaces. Each team has a current rating for speed, acceleration and risk of accident. Whipping the horses is apparently also part of play. Published in Spielbox magazine. L [Check Prices]
QUO VADIS
Reiner Knizia; Hans im Glück; 1992
also for Mayfair; 2000
Negotiation game about machinations within the Roman Senate. Those familiar with the cursus honorum (course of honor) actually followed by Roman magistrates will readily recognize it in the board. At first glance appears to be a no-holds-barred negotiation outing – and therefore prone to long delays and boring interludes – but actually plays better than it à priori seems. In fact negotiation is pretty much limited to the first half, after which it shifts gears into becoming an interesting match in lookahead and outguess. Features nice plastic pawn figures representing the acanthus. Title is Latin for "Where are you going?" – probably deriving from the famous novel and film of the same name.
Review Review: Game Cabinet Review: Game Cabinet Review: Game Report L [Check Prices]
ROMANS
Gary Wyatt; Green Board Game Co.; 2005; 2-4
Learn history as you travel around the empire conquering forts in order to be the first proclaimed Caesar. L [Check Prices]
ROMAN RUINS
Decipher
Party game.
Review
Part of the "How to Host a Murder" series. Characters include Licentius Caesar, Rotunda Immaculata, Maximus Testosterus, Cleptopatra, Bogus Fortunatus, Flotilla Submergia, Harangus Adnauseum, Mercedes Accelleratti. L [Check Prices]
ROME
Reiner Knizia; GMT; 2001
Three games from the NEW GAMES IN OLD ROME set have been selected for this new offering: CIRCUS MAXIMUS, HANNIBAL VERSUS ROME and IMPERIUM. L [Check Prices]
ROME IS BURNING
Lloyd Krassner; Warp Spawn Games; 2003; 2
Players compete to become emperor. The circular track has 12 spaces, two cards being placed on each. These include Assassination, Bread & Circuses, Political Support, Military Support, Intrigue, Soldiers, Reputation, Private Entertainments, Public Entertainments, Orgies, Tortures, Arena Games, and Decrees. After seven turns the player with the highest score wins. L
RÖMER
Rudolf Ross; Hexagames; 1990; 2-4
Trick-taking card game dealing abstractly with Roman horses and wagons. L [Check Prices]
RUBICON
Giber I/S; 1990
Players roll a die to move towards Rome. Players can make deals that either force or prevent movement. Players not in a deal must move. Whenever a player crosses the Rubicon, he picks up a card that can affect movement, end the round premature, negate other cards or nullify deals. L [Check Prices]
KAMPF UM ROM
STRUGGLE FOR ROME
Klaus Teuber; Kosmos; 2006; 3-4
Barbarians take over the late empire, Catan-style, featuring armies, forts, supply wagons and a map covering the western empire.
Review L [Check Prices]
SAECULUM
Jana-Madlen Schütte; Kallmeyer Verlag; 2008; 1-6
Published at Essen 2008, this historical quiz game has one player reading a question with its three possible answers and each other player using ABC cards to simultaneously answer. Then the question card must be placed in correct historical order in relation to the other cards. (A saeculum is a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of a human population, a term first used by the Etruscans. During the reign of Augustus it was decided that this should be 110 years.) [Buy it at Amazon.de] L [Check Prices]
SATOR
Oriol Comas; Mèl·loro Rosso; 2005; 2
Abstract game based on the Latin magic square: 
        S A T O R
        A R E P O
        T E N E T
        O P E R A
        R O T A S
L [Check Prices]
STRADA ROMANA
Walter Obert; (unpublished plan); 2-5
Covers the wagon trade between Rome and its port at Ostia. Merchants not only try to get "there" first, but also to do business along the way. L
SYLLA
Dominique Ehrhard; Ystari; 2008; 3-4
Also known as Sulla, the Roman dictator, who ahead of Caesar, set the precedent for marching on Rome. In a system apparently reminiscent of REPUBLIC OF ROME players vie to become "First man in Rome". Shared features are semi-cooperativity and unfortunate events such as plagues. Strangely persecution of Christians seems to be a part of it, which is too early for the period. L [Check Prices]
TABULA - THE ROMAN GAME
Past Times; 1990; 2
Recreation of the ancient Roman version of what is today better known as Backgammon. In ancient times it was also sometimes known as Alea. The board and components do not seem to be trying to be replicate the ancient game except with respect to the rules.
Review L [Check Prices]
TITUS
Uwe Rosenberg; Adlung-Spiele; 2000; 2-4
Card collection game with a memory aspect.
Review
[Spieltrieb] L [Check Prices]
TRIBUN: DIE BRUTIER ERWEITERUNG
TRIBUNE EXPANSION
Karl-Heinz Schmiel; Heidelberger Spieleverlag/Moskito, 2008; Fantasy Flight, 2009; 3-6
Expansion kit for TRIBUNE (see below) adds the Bruti family and the possibility of another player. L [Check Prices]
TRIBUNE: PRIMUS INTER PARES
Karl-Heinz Schmiel; Heidelberger Spieleverlag/Fantasy Flight Games; 2007; 2-5
Players represent patrician families attempting to gain dominance over the various factions in Rome. Each round begins with players allocating their pieces to various board opportunities and then they are resolved in order, similar to Pillars of the Earth. Included are the collection plate which gives cash, many locations which give cards (the slave market, forum, latrine, senate, atrium, catacombs, pantheon), the altar to Mars – laurels; faction track – faction control. Factions are named gladiator, legate, praetorian, plebeian, patrician, vestal and senator. Many of these locations require spending either coins or cards to complete. Victory conditions are printed on cards and so can differ from playing to playing.
Review L [Check Prices]
TRIUMVIRATE
Travis Worthington; Indie Boards and Cards; forthcoming 2010; 2
Trick taking card game also featuring bluffing, deduction and drafting. Players represent noble houses during the First Triumverate period (Crassus, Pompeius and Caesar). L [Check Prices]
TUCHULCHA
Marco Donadoni; daVinci; 2003; 2-4
Not strictly actually set in Roman times, but rather in those of their predecessors of a sort, the Etruscans. Players make sacrifices during the 6th century BC.
Review L [Check Prices]
12 CAESARS
Carlo Bertocchini; Game Works; 1997
Card game in which players conduct a series of blind auctions for one of the twelve Caesars named in Suetonius' famous books of the same name. Each Caesar has a different point value based on his chronological order. There are also bonus points gained for gaining a series. There is no attention to theme whatever. Cards are rather flimsy. With blind bidding and luck of the draw, there is little to no stategy.
Review L [Check Prices]
VIA ROMANA
Knut Happel & Christian Fiore; Goldsieber; 2008; 2-4; 8+
Players are road builders in Ancient Gallia. Milestones are placed along roads via cardplay, the goal being to have the most milestones along a section once it is complete. New cards are received via drafting. Includes 55 cards, 156 wooden tokens and one legionary eagle. L [Check Prices]
VILLA RUSTICA
Lloyd Krassner; Warp Spawn Games; 2008; 2-4
In this web-published card game each player represents a senator competing for gold, influence and prestige. L [Check Prices]

Related:

HOW TO HOST A MURDER: ROMAN RUINS
Decipher
Party game.
Role-playing and solution of a mystery. Episode 11. B
RES PUBLICA
Reiner Knizia; Hexagames; 1991
re-issued by Salagames, 1992; re-issued by Avalanche, 1999
Rummy-like trading game which includes Romans centers around trading and set collection. The innovative mechanism is that the player wishes to arrange a trade, but may only state either what he wants or what he wishes to give away, but not both. This makes for some interesting considerations, but does not seem to work very well at the top end of the number of players where things become very static and slow.
Review Review: Game Cabinet L [Check Prices]
REVENGE IN ROME
Edna Hill Maples & Patricia A. Stewart; University Games; 1985; 6+
Party game. Games in the Murder Mystery Party series are a throwback to the parlor games of medieval Europe. Guests assume their roles and stay in character throughout the party in an attempt to solve the murder. All guests are given information to read privately which reveals their motives and hidden pasts. A lively cross-examination should ensue. All players must answer questions truthfully, but are not required to provide more information than asked. An exception is the murderer who may lie freely. Accusations are made at the conclusion of the final chapter, the winner being the player who guesses the author's solution correctly. The setting of this particular mystery is Rome in the year 1985 where an American citizen has been found dead in one of the catacombs. The roles in the game are the deceased's son, the son's wife, the wife's parents, the deceased's secretary and the deceased's lawyer. A 33 and a third phonograph record is included to provide a sense of atmosphere.
Review B

Roman History and Culture:

Bibliography:

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This page created April 13, 1999.
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