Ludus Coriovalli | Ancient Roman board game | Rules determined by AI!

Ludus Coriovalli is an ancient Roman board game. The rules were unknown until a team of researchers used AI to compare wear patterns on the board with possible movement of pieces that could cause that wear. Also, I make a replica of the board out of foam and bondo. www.thegamingbench.com Want to support the channel? Drop me a couple bucks at https://buymeacoffee.com/thegamingbench. Thanks! MUSIC CREDITS Pachabelly Huma-Huma PHOTO CREDITS EU-Netherlands CC BY-SA 3.0 NuclearVacuum https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us... Roman Baths & Museum of Coriovallum in the modern Heerlen CC BY 2.0 TimeTravelRome https://www.flickr.com/people/1683995... Dry River Canyon CC BY 2.0 BLM Oregon & Washington https://www.flickr.com/people/blmoregon/ Muhlespiel CC BY-SA 3.0 Dirk Broßke Rulebook-en-kk-2023 CC BY-SA 4.0 Neocristal https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us... REFERENCES Websites https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2026/02/... https://www.zmescience.com/science/ar... https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/art... google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://thedebrief.org/a-mysterious-roman-artifact-covered-in-odd-markings-puzzled-researchers-for-more-than-a-century-now-ai-has-cracked-its-ancient-code/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYAyoTNjk2NzQ0NDUzOTY3NDk1NDc5NDIaYTk2ZTI1N2VlN2YzN2NmZTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AOvVaw3C28SEKPGH3rt5hQdPTnj9 openculture.com/2026/03/ai-figures-out-the-rules-of-a-mysterious-2000-year-old-board-game-from-ancient-rome.html https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/f... https://thedebrief.org/a-mysterious-r... https://www.popularmechanics.com/scie... https://www.charlotteobserver.com/liv... https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2026/02/... https://www.fastcompany.com/91492290/... https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/a... https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/139... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mysterio... https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe... https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/artic... https://www.zmescience.com/science/ar... Podcasts https://www.npr.org/2026/02/23/nx-s1-... the-rules-of-an-ancient-roman-board-game https://www.kuow.org/stories/how-rese... Videos    • KCGL talks: Walter Crist on Archaeoludology   Timecodes 00:00 - Intro 00:36 - Research tl;dr 01:15 - Building replica board 04:50 - Finished board 05:07 - Dumb 05:58 - History of the stone 08:05 - Board configurations 08:51 - Things I don't understand 10:12 - Using AI to explore rules 14:23 - Rules 15:53 - Wrap-up STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am well aware that my pronunciation of foreign words, names, and places (and let's be honest, sometimes words in my native language) is terrible. I do look up pronunciations, and I try to get my American mouth to make the right noises. But at the end of the day, I’m just a small-town guy who’s doing his best. Also, I am not a professional game scholar, just an enthusiastic amateur. This means my work may be incomplete, biased and, (I hope only rarely) outright wrong. I work hard to use reliable sources, double-check for accuracy, and draw reasonable conclusions. However, the scholarship surrounding ancient games is constantly growing and evolving; as a part-time game researcher and YouTube content creator, I am not always up to date on the most recent findings. If I present anything that is demonstrably incorrect, please call me out so I may increase my personal knowledge and understanding of this fascinating subject. Reach me at [email protected].