MARTINETTI

Did you know that Martinetti is one of the oldest roll and move games ever? Roman soldiers used to play it way back when! It might seem simple, but trust me, it’s a great way to have fun with your family. The game will make you think hard about how to use each dice roll to move your token along the board. And guess what? The first player to reach the end wins!

THE BOARD

You don’t need anything fancy to play Martinetti. Just grab a piece of paper and draw your own board! But if you want something more official, we’ve got a printable board for you. Take a look:

You don’t need tokens or game pieces for this game. Just use the first letter of your name to mark the space you’re on. Like I said before, all you need is a scrap piece of paper, a pencil, and some dice.

THE PLAY

We both start with our tokens off the board. We take turns rolling the dice, and the player with the highest total goes first.

On each turn, we roll all three dice. To move our tokens, we have to roll the next number or a combination that adds up to the next number. For example, at the beginning of the game, we need to roll a 1 to move to the 1 space. If we don’t roll a 1, we pass our turn.

If you want to move to a larger number like 9, you have to roll a combination of dice that adds up to exactly nine, like 5 and 4, or 6 and 3. You can also use three dice, like 5, 3, and 1, or 4, 3, and 2.

You have the chance to move more than one space in a single turn. To do this, you need to roll the correct sequence. For example, if you roll 1, 2, and 3 on your very first turn, you can move directly to space number 3 on the board.

You can also add the dice together to move more than one space. For example, if you roll three 1s on your first turn, you can move to space number 1, and then move an additional 2 spaces by adding the remaining dice. Remember, each dice can only be used once per turn.

Let me give you an example of using dice together. Imagine I’m sitting on space number 5 and I roll a 6-4-3. Because I rolled a 6, I can move to space number 6. But that’s not all! Since 3 + 4 equals 7, I can also move to space number 7.

If I’m able to move my piece, I can roll again. However, once I roll and can’t move, my turn is over.

We keep playing like this until one of us reaches the end of the gameboard. To win, we need to ascend to the 12 space and then descend back down to the 1.

THE WINNER

The first player to ascend to 12 and descend back to 1 wins the game.