Rules of mysterious ancient board game decoded by AI, scientists say

February 11, 2026 / 2:49 PM EST / CBS/AFP

A smooth, white stone dating from the Roman era and unearthed in the Netherlands has long baffled researchers. 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. The circular piece of limestone has diagonal and straight lines cut into it.

Using 3D imaging created by the restoration studio Restaura, scientists discovered some lines were deeper than others, suggesting pieces were moved along them, some more than others.

"We can see wear along the lines on the stone, exactly where you would slide a piece," said Walter Crist, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who specializes in ancient games, in a statement. "The appearance of the stone combined with this wear strongly suggests it's a game."

Other researchers at Maastricht University then used an artificial intelligence program that can deduce the rules of ancient games. They trained this AI, baptized Ludii, with the rules of about 100 ancient games from the same area as the Roman stone.

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