Many experts believe this game is actually a version of the Greek game Diagramismos. In this form, it bears a strong resemblance to Egyptian Senet, which had 30 squares. Since gambling was banned in Rome, it would appear that the words simply disguised the board.

The picture shown above is redrawn from a board specimen in the British Museum. This board is not broken off at the top or bottom -- the half-circles are engraved at the edge of the board. This is typical of many boards found like this. The proportions of the board suggest that playing pieces, the size of typical 20 mm bone roundels, could have been placed over the letters.

Consider the redrawn image of a complete gaming board shown at the left. This board was found at Qustul in Egypt, along with 15 black pieces, 15 white pieces, 5 dice and a fritillis. It dates no later than the 5th century AD. The similarity to the 12 Philosophers board is striking. The circles in the center and proportions seem almost identical. The only problem is -- no-one seems to know if this is really a duodecim scripta board either.

Take a look also at the gaming board shown at right. This board was found in Britain, and belonged to a soldier of the 20th Legion in the 2nd century AD. The resemblance to the above boards is, once again, striking. Along with this board were found three dice, which would seem to confirm that three dice, not two or five, were used in this game.

Most probably these are the same game, and an intriguing clue comes from the Roman port of Ostia, in Italy. A gaming board was found using not words, but letters alone, arranged as follows :

The above arrangement strongly suggests what the proper direction of movement is in this game, and also seems to confirm the purpose of these boards. The rules for this game, the 'Duodecim Scripta' or Senet (Backgammon) type rules, can now be generally formulated.

In this version of the game, three dice would have been tossed. The 15 pieces move first up the center line of letters, and then over to the left. Finally they would travel to the opposite side of letters and then off the board. As in Tabula, no pieces could move beyond the first 'word' until all pieces had entered the board. Likewise, no pieces could exit the board until all pieces had landed on the last word.