'Jackstones' and dice were thrown on a board using the player's own hand or a dicebox. The dicebox was the guarantee of correctness in gambling. Throwing the dice with one hand sometimes was a fraud.

Jackstones and dice could have many different types. In order to make jackstones people used small bones which are in the legs and the shinbones of many animals and which knit together in the heel. The animals used for that purpose could be veal, sheep, goat, antelope. They were also made of metal, bone, ivory and stone.

Jackstones had only four useful sides because, as they were very long and narrow, they couldn't stand upright on their ends. The four sides were rectangular, long and narrow; two of them were flat, one was concave and the other one convex. Each one had a different value: one, three, four and six. The game was played with four jackstones each time and it was possible to get 35 combinations. The most important one was called Venus or tractus Venerius, that is to say when each jackstone showed a side with a different number.

Dice were made of bone or ivory and two or three were thrown each time. When the person threw the dice, he used to call on a goddess or the name of the beloved woman so that he could get a lucky throw.

Roman law was very strict with gamblings. They were forbidden, they were only allowed during Saturnales time, a kind of Roman carnival entertainment in which there was fun and freedom for everybody.

There were also reflection games. They consisted in moving, according to some rules, pieces (calculi) on a kind of board, called tabula lusoria or abacus.

The most frequent game was ludus latrunculorum or 'the soldier's game'. It was a game very similar to our 'draughts', because its aim was enclosing the opponent so that he couldn't move. On the other hand, it's simlar to 'chess' because, while some pieces could be moved in the same way as our pawns, others could be moved forward in several ways or even jump.

Swimming was a very common sport enjoyed by Roman people. A man who couldn't swim was something very strange.

Another entertainment was dancing. Old italic dancings were solemn and martial. People beat the ground with their feet with a rhythm of three tempos. It was more similar to jumping than to dancing. Only women and children danced. Dancing wasn't allowed to a serious man. The epithet of 'dancer' (cinaedus) was the most insulting word for a man.

It was very common that when a person was dancing (s)he sang using a musical instrument for it.