A game that we love to play in our house is a game the Roman soldiers used to take with them on their travels called ROTA.



It’s design is based on the shape of a cart wheel. Ours is drawn on a circle of leather with a draw string so it can be carried easily but you can scratch it in the sand or draw it on paper just as easily.
It is a game of strategy for 2 players. It’s very easy to learn but can be more complicated than it first seems.
To make this game you will need:
Paper ( coloured paper can be nice)
A piece of card to stick your paper design to
Pencil
Ruler
Colouring pencils/pencils/crayons
A bowl to draw around
A 2p to draw around
6 tokens, (2 sets of 3) such as coins, pebbles, shells, bottle tops, buttons, lego blocks etc
The first thing to do is to make your paper into a square shape about 20cms x 20cms is a good size but you can make it bigger or smaller as you choose.
Next place your bowl centrally on your square and draw around it.
Now draw a line cutting your circle in half and then in quarters.
I find it helpful to turn my page to draw 2 more lines through the cross you’ve made to divide the circle into eights.
Use your small circle such as a 2p to make a circle in the centre and at each pointthat the lines meet the outside edge (circumference).

Now you should have 8 circles around the edge and 1 in the middle. You can decorate the spokes of the board and the circles any way you choose and then you’re ready to play!
How to play
The object of the game is to make 3 in a row in a straight line across the circle.
Each player has 3 tokens.
It doesn’t matter if they are identical as long as you can tell who’s whose!
Decide who is going to go first, but then the winner chooses if they would like to go first from then on.
Each player in turn can put their tokens on any of the circles around the edge or in the middle.
Players can choose if they would like to place down or move.
You may only move your tokens along a direct path around the edge of the circle or into the middle of the circle.
You can not land on a circle that is already occupied or jump over another token.
Continue to move tokens in turn until either a player gets 3 in a row or the other player can no longer make a move.
That’s it! Simple!
Why not give it a try?
If you like board games there are lots to choose from or you could have a go at coming up with your own idea.