Board games from the city of Vijayanagara (Hampi ... - Gioco dell'Oca.

14
B OARD G AME S TUDIES 6, 2003
Stick dice with four rectangular sides and two little squares at the ends, and with
spots or point-circles placed on the long sides, were used by the Celts and the Romans
more than 2000 years ago, and they also became popular among the Germanic peoples
in Northern Europe during the Roman Iron Age. Similar sticks have been in common
use in large parts of Asia from the Middle Ages until today, e.g. in India, Sri-Lanka,
Nepal and China. (14)
Stick dice with cross lines or other lines, or with letters cut into their long sides, is a
much more unusual tradition. Used in connection with the ‘put-and-take’ game, the
only known examples come from England, Denmark, and Germany.
In Yorkshire, England, there was a tradition of using a 4- or 8-sided dice stick with
crosses and strokes cut into its sides. Alice Bertha Gomme in her book The traditional
games of England, Scotland and Ireland (15) quotes Easther’s Almondbury Glossary, which
gives a detailed description of this wooden die. I quote from this text:
“Lang Larence That is, ‘Long Lawrence’, an instrument marked with signs, a sort
of teetotum. A ‘Long Lawrence’ is about three inches long, something like a short ruler
with eight sides; occasionally they have but four. On one side are ten x’s or crosses, forming
a kind of lattice-work; on the next, to the left, three double cuts, or strokes, passing
straight across in the direction of the breadth; on the third, a zig-zag of three strokes
one way, and two or three the other, forming a W, with an additional stroke or a triple
V; on the fourth, three single bars, one at each end and one in the middle, as in No. 2,
where they are doubled; then the four devices are repeated in the same order. The game,
formerly popular at Christmas, can be played by any number of persons. Each has a
bank of pins or other small matters. A pool is formed; then in turn each rolls the ‘Long
Lawrence’. If No. 1 comes up the player cries ‘Flush’, and takes the pool; if No. 2, he puts
down two pins; if No. 3, he says ‘Lave all’, and neither takes or gives; if No. 4, he picks
up one. The sides are considered to bear the names, ‘Flush’, ‘Put doan two’; ‘Lave all’,
‘Sam up one’.” (Fig. 7)
According to Stewart Culin a similar 8-sided die, a so-called log (Fig. 8), having 1-8
spots on its sides, was used by gamblers in the United States and England. (16) The very
special arrangement of signs on the Lang Larence, with only four signs appearing twice,
clearly indicates that the four-sided version of the die was the original type. I shall return
to the question of the possible meaning of these signs.
Fig. 7. Long Lawrence. Length, 7,5 cm.
Almondbury, England. As reproduced in
Culin 1895 and 1898 from the description
given in Easther 1883. Museum of
Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania.
Fig. 8. Log. Ivory die. Length, 7 cm. U.S.A.
Cat. No. 7134, Museum of Archaeology,
University of Pennsylvania (in Culin 1898).