Kottabos VR

Kottabos VR was developed by lead programmers Aiden Gohlke and Donovan Lott. Now released on Steam, you can download this game for free from the Kottabos VR store page!

Check out our free assignment templates for how to use this game in your class, below under Educational Resources!

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Available on Steam!

Read more about the game on the following posts:

Educational Resources

More Educational Resources and teaching templates will be available here.  Check back!

Lesson Plans:

  1. Kottabos VR – Lesson Plan 1 – Reading Assignment (Age: High school +)
  2. Kottabos VR – Lesson Plan 2 – Drawing Assignment (Age: Middle school +)

Historical Sources:

  • Athenaeus. Deipnosophistae 15.665-667
  • Csapo, Eric and M.C. Miller. 1991. “The “Kottabos-Toast” and an Inscribed Red-Figured Cup.” Hesperia 60.3: 367-382.
  • Higgins, Alfred. 1988. “Recent discoveries of the apparatus used in playing the game of Kottabos”, Archaeologia 51.2: 383-398
  • Kunisch, Norbert. 1989. Griechischer Fischteller: Natur und Bild. Grab. Mann Verlag, Berlin: p 49-61.
  • Rosen, Ralph M. 1989. “Euboulos‘ Ankylion and the Game of Kottabos.” The Classical Quarterly n.s. 39.2: 355-359.
  • Scaife, Ross. 1992. “From Kottabos to War in Aristophanes’ Acharnians.” Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 33: 25-35.
  • Shapiro, Alan. 1981. Art, Myth, and Culture: Greek Vases from Southern Collections. New Orleans Museum of Art and Tulane University, New Orleans: Richmond 79.100

About the Game Kottabos VR

This is a VR trip into the ancient world – playing Kottabos, the all-time favorite Greek party game. All the items you see around you are 3D reconstructions of actual ancient furniture, pottery, and Kottabos targets from museums. This historical game is harder than it looks!

In ancient Greece Kottabos was a popular party game in which players threw the dregs from the bottom of their cup at targets. These included a disk on the top of a pole and cups floating in a bowl of water. They competed for adoration, praise, and respect of the other party-goers.

Prove your skill by throwing the dregs of wine from your cup at the metal disk on the pole in front of you, or fling your drops at the little cups floating in a bowl. If the disk or the cups go down, your luck goes up! A round of applause, an extra dessert, or the favor of Aphrodite herself will come to the winners.

Project Team:

  • Aiden Gohlke – Lead Game Design and Programmer, Kennesaw State University
  • Donovan Lott – Lead Game Design and Programmer, Kennesaw State University
  • Jake Lewis – Student Game Design and Programmer, Kennesaw State University (2022)
  • Hakeem Thomas – Student Game Design and Programmer, Kennesaw State University (2021)
  • Dr. Sandra Blakely – Project Director, Emory University, Department of Classics
  • Dr. Joanna C. Mundy – Project Manager, Digital Projects Specialist, Emory Center for Digital Scholarship
  • Dr. Joy Li – Game Development Collaborator, Kennesaw State University, Assistant Professor of Computer Game Design and Development
  • Craig Brasco – Visual Interface Collaborator and Illustrator, Kennesaw State University, Assistant Professor of Art | Graphic Communications