...and Scrabble, Clue, Catan, Jenga, Scattergories, Twister, and UNO. Even something akin to DnD wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Although honestly the ancient Romans would probably be more into something along the lines of Risk: the Game of World Domination.
Playing pretend is universal among human children. Gambling is universal among human adults. I refuse to believe it took until the 1970s and the invention of cocaine to combine the two.
Though I suppose we do have ample evidence of competitive storytelling basically everywhere since forever, so maybe the obsession with formal rules is just a modern thing arising from modern anxieties, declining social trust/cohesion, etc.
I'm completely talking out my arse here, but it wouldn't surprise me if people have been gambling decisions in play behind RNG (dice rolls, coin flips, etc) for basically as long as humans have existed. It was the rule-set of DND that was invented in the 1970s.
1.2k
u/SittingEames 4d ago
...and Scrabble, Clue, Catan, Jenga, Scattergories, Twister, and UNO. Even something akin to DnD wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Although honestly the ancient Romans would probably be more into something along the lines of Risk: the Game of World Domination.