Ludix
Ludix Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 special dice with faces L-X-X-V-I-I
- A rules booklet
In addition, you need a pen and paper ready to hand.
Object of the Game
Be the first person to score 300 points or more.
To Play
The player who is the first to say "Alea jacta est" has the privilege of being the first player.
The first player throws all four dice at the same time. He/she then forms an existing Roman numeral with the symbols shown on the dice. The Roman numeral corresponds to the number of points gained.
At this stage the player has two options:
- He/she can stop there and note the score, before passing the dice to the player on his left.
- He/she can choose to throw the dice again. If this is the case, the player throws all four dice again, forms an existing Roman numeral and adds the points obtained to the previous points gained. The player can again decide whether to continue or not.
He/she can throw the dice as many times as an existing Roman number is obtained. He/she then notes the score.
But, watch out: if the player cannot make an existing Roman numeral (the probability is 1:4), he/she loses all previous points obtained during his/her turn. It is then the next player's turn.
Certain throws of the dice allow the creation of other Roman numerals. However, these count less points, as for example XXIX = 29, but XXXI = 31.
Highest-Scoring Combinations
These 14 combinations obtain the highest number of points:
| Numeral | Points | Numeral | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIII | 8 | LIII | 53 |
| XIII | 13 | LVII | 57 |
| XVII | 17 | LXII | 62 |
| XXII | 22 | LXVI | 66 |
| XXVI | 26 | LXXI | 71 |
| XXXI | 31 | LXXV | 75 |
| XXXV | 35 |
Incorrect Throws
The 21 following combinations are incorrect (the correct form is given in brackets):
- IIII (correct: IV)
- VVII (correct: XII)
- VVVI (correct: XVI)
- VVVV (correct: XX)
- XVVI (correct: XXI)
- XVVV (correct: XXV)
- XXVV (correct: XXX)
- XXXX (correct: XL)
- LVVI (correct: LXI)
- LVVV (correct: LXV)
- LXVV (correct: LXX)
- LLII (correct: CII)
- LLVI (correct: CVI)
- LLVV (correct: CX)
- LLXI (correct: CXI)
- LLXV (correct: CXV)
- LLXX (correct: CXX)
- LLLI (correct: CLI)
- LLLV (correct: CLV)
- LLLX (correct: CLX)
- LLLL (correct: CC)
Example Turn
It's Julie's turn to play. Her throw gives I-I-X-X. She can, therefore, form the numeral XXII = 22 points. She feels that this score is too low and decides to throw the dice again and gets L-V-X-I. This forms the numeral LXVI = 66 (the combination XLIV is also possible but only scores 44 points). In total Julie has scored 88 points. She decides to stop there and notes 88 points on the pad. Mark plays after Julie and throws I-X-V-I. He can form the numeral XVII = 17 points. He roles the dice again and is unlucky he gets LVVI. There are no Roman numerals in which there are two V's. So this time he scores 0 points. He then passes the dice to Luke for his turn.
End of the Game
The game ends when one of the players reaches 300 points or more. The players roll the dice until all players have finished the turn. The player with the highest score wins.
Roman Numerals
In mathematical terms the Roman numeral system denotes natural numbers in a system of addition and subtraction using base 10 with an auxiliary base 5.
Originally, these numbers were written in the form of notches. Then the characters were adapted to the Latin letters during Roman antiquity. I, V, X are the oldest Roman numerals. Number one is represented by a single slash. V for number 5 is no more than one half of X (the top half). No sign exists to represent zero.
So how are the figures 4, 17 or 129 written using these symbols? It is very simple. Symbols are placed from left to right in order of value starting with the largest, until the number can be represented using the following symbol. For example the figure 5 is not transcribed by using notches IIIII, but by using the symbol V, there is, therefore, no need to repeat the same character more than four times.
The subtraction method is even clearer because no more than three identical characters are written in a row. Instead of writing the same character four times, deduct I, X or C from the next superior number by placing it directly to the left of the higher value (V, L, D or M): for example to write number 9, IX is written instead of VIIII. This notation was very widespread in the Roman Empire.
There are symbols to denote the numbers 1, 10, 100 etc. as well as the numbers 5, 50, 500 etc.
| Symbol | I | V | X | L | C | D | M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 1 | 5 | 10 | 50 | 100 | 500 | 1000 |
The symbols for base 5 numbers 5 (V), 50 (L), and 500 (D) only appear once in any numeral because they concede their place to the next highest power of ten for which there is a specific symbol: 2 • 5 = 10 (X), 2 • 50 = 100 (C) and 2 • 500 = 1000 (M).
Examples
- I = 1
- II = 2 (1 + 1)
- III = 3 (1 + 1 + 1)
- IV = 4 (– 1 + 5)
- VI = 6 (5 + 1)
- IX = 9 (– 1 + 10)
- XVII = 17 (10 + 5 + 1 + 1)
- XXXIV = 34 (10 + 10 + 10 + (– 1 + 5))
- XLIX = 49 ((– 10 + 50) + (– 1 + 10))
- LXXXV = 85 (50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5)
- CDXLIV = 444 ((– 100 + 500) + (– 10 + 50) + (– 1 + 5))
- DCXXIX = 629 (500 + 100 + 10 + 10 + (– 1 + 10))
- MCMLVIII = 1958
- MMXIV = 2014