Now with the help of artificial intelligence, scientists believe they have cracked the mystery: the stone is an ancient board game and they have even guessed the rules. They trained this AI, baptised Ludii, with the rules of about 100 ancient games from the same area as the Roman stone. They then cross-checked the possible rules with the wear on the stone to uncover the most likely set of movements in the game. “If you present Ludii with a line pattern like the one on the stone, it will always find game rules. The research and the possible rules were published in the journal Antiquity.

Source: Bangkok Post February 12, 2026 11:31 UTC