Royal Game of Ur

The 'Royal Game of Ur' is the name currently used for a roughly 4500 year old board game from Mesopotamia. What the game was actually called in about 2500 BC is unknown, but its rules have been pretty much worked out thanks to a chance discovery of Sumerian text on a clay tablet (more on that later in this post). 

The game is basically a race game, and can be considered an ancient ancestor of backgammon and earlier games in that tables family. As both players have multiple pieces to move, like backgammon, game play is a mix between chance and strategy.

My 'Royal Game of Ur' set is a 3D-printed copy, with markings very similar to actual Mesopotamian boards.

Note the tetrahedral dice that were used in the original game!

The one person responsible for the discovery and interpretation of the rules of this game is Irving Finkel. Over to him to tell you more ...

And if you want to see the game 'in action', here is Irving Finkel again, playing the game!