Database: Dice games

Dicing was a popular amusement in Ancient Greece and cheating with loaded dice was not unknown. Dice games were played with four-sided knucklebones, with the values 1 and 6, 3 and 4, or six-sided dice made of different materials, including ivory, clay, and bronze. The value of each side was marked by dots, strokes, or words. As with the knucklebones, the numbers of two opposite sides always added up to seven. Usually, the game was played with 3, sometimes 4 dice, which were thrown from the back of the hand, the palm or a goblet. In the game called the "highest toss game" (pleistobolinda), the sum of the points won the game, with the highest possible number of points being triple sixes ("the Aphrodite throw"), and the lowest triple ones ("the dog throw"). Games could be played for objects, but more often were played for money.