The Colosseum (sic) squatted like some primeval stone beast in the heart of Rome, its lofty upper arches casting shadows in the late afternoon sun over the sweltering pavement of this, the Emperor's proud capital . . . Dedicated to the Infernal gods, the Roman games proved to be one of the most awesome spectacles of regulated murder ever performed before human audiences . . . The gates of the plutonic kingdom were thronged with the ghosts of the defeated, yet Rome still glutted them in honor of uncaring gods who only reveled in the deaths of strong men . . . Rome has passed into the ages of antiquity, yet still the solemn bulk of the Colosseum presides over the ruins of an ancient city that once enjoyed the grotesque ballet of life and death under the uncaring sun. The players fight four simultaneous battles between pairs of gladiators. There are four differently equipped gladiators on each team, two armored (Postulat with mace and Secutor with sword) and two unarmored (Dimacher with two daggers and Retarius with net and trident).