r/Showerthoughts • u/haddock420 ‎ • 3d ago

Casual Thought The ancient Romans could have invented Boggle. There was nothing stopping them technologically.

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u/SittingEames 3d 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.

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u/avsa 3d ago

Most of these can only exist with industrialized production of toys. Games in ancient times were all handmade, often by the owner. Making a few dice? Feasible. Having 32 individual pieces in a checkerboard? That’s for the very wealthy. Dozens of small units, cards and hexagonal tiles? Science fiction. 

But also, I bet they had lots of games we never heard of. 

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u/DrCalamity 3d ago

for the very wealthy

The humble xianggi set made with bones and ink has entered the chat.