For more information about how some of these dice games were played, see these links. You can also find rules for these and other games.
Note that several of the images and text references here indicate that, in addition to gambling their money, some unlucky gamblers are in the process of losing their clothing, too.
- Bone dice from the second half of the 12th century, found at the manorial residence of Rubercy
- Jet dice from late 12th or early 13th century York
- Dice games in The Book of Games of Alfonso X, 1251-1282
- Guillaume Magret with three dice, Provençal Chansonnier (BNF Fr. 854, fol. 139), second half of the 13th century
Berinus ferthermore loved wele the dise And for to pley at hazard, and held therof grete pryse, And al other games that losery was in, And evermore he lost and never myghte wyn. Berinus atte hazard many a nyghte he waked, And offt tyme it fill so that he cam home al naked. And that was al his joy, for ryghte wele he knewe That Agea his moder wold cloth hym newe. Thus Berinus lyved, as I have told tofore, Tyll he was of the age of eightene yeer or more. The Tale of Beryn, ll. 923-932
- Dice-games in a tavern, Apocalypse (BNF Fr. 13096, fol. 51), late 13th century
- Initial A with the Count of Edessa and the Prince of Antioch playing dice, Histoire d'Outre Mer (Walters W.137.157V), c. 1295-1300
- Some of the dice at the Historiska Museet (Sweden); various periods & materials:
SHM 7040:794,
SHM 7040:979,
SHM 18011,
SHM 18393:853,
SHM 18393:854,
SHM 18393:856,
SHM 18393:857,
SHM 18393:862,
SHM 18393:863,
SHM 22031:VIII:2002,
SHM 22703:B12,
SHM 26330:451,
SHM 34524
- Playing at dice in a tavern, Li Tornoiemens Antecrist (Douce 308, fol. 259r), first quarter of the 14th century
- Men playing at knucklebones, The Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII, fol. 167v), c. 1310-1320
- Two apes playing dice (fol. 138v),
monk (?) holding dice (fol. 155r),
psalter (Douce 5), c. 1320-1330
- Man drilling holes in dice, psalter (Douce 6, fol. 158r), c. 1320-1330
- Men playing dice, The Smithfield Decretals (British Library Royal 10 E IV, fol. 92v), c. 1340
- A set of five lead dice with irregular arrangements, found in London, possibly 13th-17th century
- Bone dice and dice-makers in Saint-Denis, 14th century
- Gaming in Hell, the Taymouth Hours (British Library, Yates Thompson 13, fol. 149v), c. 1325-1335
- Dice players, Lo Libro de Multi Belli Miraculi (British Library MS Add. 22557, fol. 9v), 14th century
- Dice games in the base-de-pages on fols. 64r and 109v of the Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264), c. 1338-44
- Men gaming with dice, Omne Bonum (British Library Royal 6 E VI, fol. 73), c. 1360-1375
- Drunkenness, Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644, fol. 94), c. 1370-1400
- Bone die from Threave Castle, 14th or 15th century
- Cecco, son of Messer Fortarrigo, gambles at Buonconvento (BNF Arsenal 5070, fol. 330v), 1432
- Soldiers gambling at the Crucifixion by Konrad von Friesach, c. 1435-1440
- Ballads upon the Chance of dyce (Fairfax 16, ff. 148v-149r), c. 1450 (?)
- Men playing card-games and dice-games, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 289, fol. 318), second half of the 15th century
- Twenty four small bone dice found in a pewter container in London, dating to c. 1460-1500; all of the dice are fraudulent, but in different ways (three only show the numbers one through three, three only show the numbers four through six, and the others are weighted internally with mercury)
- Detail from The Sermon of John Capistrano, c. 1465-1475
- The monk and his friends play a dice game, Schachzabelbuch (Stuttgart Landesbibliothek Cod.poet. 2, fol. 305), 1467
- Men play dice, Der Renner (PML M.763, fol. 131v), last quarter of the 15th century
- A dice game, Schachzabelbuch (ÖNB 3049, fol. 160r), 1479
- A set of loaded dice, late 15th century
- German illustration of three men playing dice, 1479
- Men and women at the gaming-table, La Nef des folz du monde (BNF Arsenal 4 BL 2142, fol. LXVIv), 1497
- The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500 (trictrac board and dice visible in the bottom of this detail from the right wing)
- Stained glass roundel: a party of gamblers playing with dice, early 16th century
- January, dice players “playing 'raffle,' a game won by rolling three matching numbers at once, similar to modern slot machines. There seems to be some debate over the winning throw of three 3s, for both players point at the dice, but the peddler's smile suggests he has the upper hand over his disgruntled wealthy opponent. Perhaps he is using weighted dice, a common trick still used today.” Book of hours (Walters W.449.2V), c. 1524
- Two Landsknechts playing at dice by Jörg Breu, c. 1525-1530
- He is an honest man with whom you can play at dice without a candle, book-illustration from Cicero's Officia, 1531
- The Cardsharps by Caravaggio, 1596
- Soldiers gambling over Chist's tunic by Nicolas Régnier
|