Writings and physical remains have revealed that the Romans played many board games. These include Ludus latrunculorum, or the game of soldiers, where the goal is to capture the other player’s pieces; Ludus duodecim scriptorum, which means the game of 12 signs and is often thought of as an ancestor of backgammon; and games like tic-tac-toe, or noughts and crosses, where you win by placing three symbols in a line on a grid.