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February 2026
How a Belgian researcher reconstructed a nearly 1.800-year-old Roman board game with the help of AI
[Note by Henri Serruys: This article was published on 10 February 2026 in Dutch on the website of the Flemish Radio and Television Company (VRT).]
Author: Kasper Nollet (VRT NWS)
A mysterious stone that has been gathering dust for years in a Dutch museum may in fact be an ancient Roman board game. This emerges from a Belgian study reported by RTBF. Using a specialised AI model and an extensive database of historical board games, the researchers even managed to unravel how the nearly 1,800-year-old game was once played.
Summary:
• An international research group led by AI scientist Eric Piette (UCLouvain) has determined that a mysterious stone in the Roman Museum in Heerlen is an ancient Roman board game, dating from approximately AD 200 to 400.
• With the help of a specialised AI database and simulations, the researchers discovered that it is a blocking game.
• “The patterns and possible rules correspond strikingly well with games from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Scandinavia,” says Eric Piette (UCLouvain), “which points to early cultural influence between the two regions.”
Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee
by Michael Negele
Dear members and friends of the CH&LS,
It was on July 5, 2019, that I published my last post on our website. It was about the 76th auction at Klittich-Pfankuch in Brunswick.
76th Auction at Klittich-Pfankuch auction house on 22nd June 2019
After almost six years of "hibernation," I was able to attend the 89th auction on November 21/22, 2025. It made me happy to meet many friends from the "good old days" and to feel so welcome.
Before that, I had surprised Siegfried Schönle on November 11, 2025, in Wismar, where I was able to attend his wonderful lecture. I was pleased to purchase his book on Schach im DP-Lager Landsberg und im Ghetto Terezín / Theresienstadt [Chess in the DP Camp Landsberg and in the Terezín/Theresienstadt Ghetto].
Read more … Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee