Roman rules? the introduction of board games to Britain and Ireland

Abstract

Competitive board games, played on the ground, on the floor or on wooden boards, provide entertainment, distraction and exercise for the mind - it is hard to believe that north-west Europe was ever without them But the authors here make a strong case that the introduction of such games was among the fruits of Roman contact, along with literacy and wine In Britain and Ireland games were soon renamed, but belonged like children's jokes to a broad underworld of fastmoving cultural transmission, largely unseen till now.