This is an incredibly simple game dating back to ancient Rome. The name is a minor anglicization of the Latin tabula lusoria, "tablet for (playing) games," a name by which it is sometimes still known. It’s a great concept, but it suffers from a fatal flaw: like Tic-Tac-Toe, the game is so simple that, once mastered, offers no real challenge. Games can basically continue forever if neither player makes a mistake. But you aren't that good, and neither is your friend, so play it anyway. It really is a fun game.
Pieces
The board is a little weird, but very simple. You can just draw it on a piece of paper -- it’s just a circle and four lines -- or, as always, print it free here. Each player needs three tokens, so use pawns or coins or checkers or whatever.
Setup
The game starts with all the tokens on the board arranged as shown:
There’s nothing I can really add to that to make it any clearer. So. Moving on.
Rules
The gameplay couldn’t be simpler: players take turns moving their tiles along a line to an adjacent space, trying to get all three of their tokens in a row. This can be along the center lines or around the edges. The first player to do so wins. There’s no jumping or anything fancy, just moving to adjacent spaces.
