Dice is one of the oldest games in the world. The first board game with chips was discovered in Egypt. It was called “senet”, which means “the game of passing through”, and it originated more than 5,000 years ago. Senet was mentioned in the “Book of the Dead” and was interpreted as a journey to the other world and a duel between a dead person and his soul.

The game of dice developed rapidly and had many varieties in the ancient world and medieval Europe. The rules ranged from the simplest — the throw with the most points won — to complex tactics and strategies. The first cubes were made from the astragalus of domestic animals, hence the name “knucklebones”. People of lesser means carved dice from wood or fruit seeds. Noble players commissioned cubes from expensive materials: ivory, agate, amber, onyx, silver, and gold.

In Russia dice and chess were mentioned as “demonic” in the 16th-century set of household rules and instructions called “Domostroy”. In Rus, the game of dice was called “grain” since “grain” dots were applied to the cubes. Sometimes some edges were left blank or made black, in which case the maximum number of dots was four.

In the Russian game of grain, players usually threw three dice. The one with the most points on the top side won. The game could take place on a special “grain” board. The place where the game took place was called Maidan, which means “square” in Arabic, and the owner of the gambling house was called the Maidan owner.

The Maidan owner had the right to sue in “grain claims”: he wrote bondage papers against insolvent players who had to pay him a reward. Most often, gambling took place in taverns held by vodka sellers who took a cross-kissing oath not to dilute vodka supplied from state-controlled distilleries.

The negative effects of playing dice were often mentioned in various documents: officials, peasants, and foreigners lost everything, pawned their clothes and horses, and signed debt letters. Players would quarrel, fight and there would even be occasional murders.

Dice were used not only for games, but also for fortune telling. Predictions were made based on a combination of three numbers drawn. Special fortune telling books contained explanations on how to interpret combinations. Dice answered questions about health, enemies, household issues, and love affairs.