Suidas' Lexicon

ὄνομα παιδιᾶς. ταύτην ἐφεῦρε Παλαμήδης εἰς διαγωγὴν τοῦἙλληνικοῦ στρατοῦ σὺν φιλοσοφίᾳ πολλῇ: τάβλα γάρἐστιν ὁ γήϊνος κόσμος, ιβ# δὲ κάσοιὁ ζωδιακὸς ἀριθμός, τὸ δὲ ψηφοβόλον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ζ# κοκκία τὰ ζ#ἄστρα τῶν πλανητῶν,ὁ δὲ πύργος τὸὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ: ἐξ οὗἀνταποδίδοται πᾶσι πολλὰ καὶ κακά.

Name of a game. Palamedes invented this as an amusement for the Greek army, with consummate ingenuity. For tabla is the earthly universe, the twelve squares correspond to the number of signs of the zodiac, and the dice-box and the seven cubes in it are the seven wandering stars, and the tower is the height of the sky, from which many evils are given in return to all people.