One of the five gameboards found by Sir Leonard Woolley in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, now held in the British Museum[1]
Years active
Earliest boards date to c. 2600 – c. 2400 BC[a] during the Early Dynastic III, being played popularly in the Middle East through late antiquity and in Kochi, India through the 1950s
Genres
Board game
Race game
Dice game
Players
2
Setup time
10–30 seconds
Playing time
Usually around 30 minutes
Chance
Medium (dice rolling)
Skills
Strategy, tactics, counting, probability
Synonyms
Game of Twenty Squares
Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata, and boards for playing it have been found at locations as far away from Mesopotamia as Crete and Sri Lanka. One board, held by the British Museum, is dated to c. 2600 – c. 2400 BC, making it one of the oldest game boards in the world.[2]
The Royal Game of Ur is sometimes equated to another ancient game which it closely resembles, the Game of Twenty Squares.
At the height of its popularity, the game acquired spiritual significance, and events in the game were believed to reflect a player's future and convey messages from deities or other supernatural beings. The Game of Ur remained popular until late antiquity, when it stopped being played, possibly evolving into, or being displaced by, a form of tables game. It was eventually forgotten everywhere except among the Jewish population of the Indian city of Kochi, who continued playing a version of it called 'Asha' until the 1950s when they began emigrating to Israel.[3]
The Game of Ur received its name because it was first rediscovered by the English archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley during his excavations of the Royal Cemetery at Ur between 1922 and 1934. Copies of the game have since been found by other archaeologists across the Middle East. A partial description in cuneiform of the rules of the Game of Ur as played in the second century BC has been preserved on a Babylonian clay tablet written by the scribe Itti-Marduk-balāṭu.
Based on this tablet and the shape of the gameboard, British Museum curator Irving Finkel reconstructed the basic rules of how the game might have been played. The object of the game is to run the course of the board and bear all one's pieces off before one's opponent. Like modern backgammon, the game combines elements of both strategy and luck.
^"game-board | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
^ abgame-board: Museum number 120834 at britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
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and present in all cultures. The RoyalGameofUr, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games. Look up game in Wiktionary, the free dictionary...
III A race of aliens in Fading Suns, a role-playing gameRoyalGameofUr, an ancient board game "UR", pronounced "you are", a song from the album Supposed...
ancestors of the tables game family. They include the Alea, Dogs and Jackals, Duodecim Scripta, the Gameof Twenty, Grammai, the RoyalGameofUr, Senet...
unknown, it has been termed the Gameof 20 Squares and Irving Finkel has suggested a possible reconstruction. The RoyalGameofUr from 2600 BC may also be an...
compiled between ca 470/50 and 280 BCE." The RoyalGameofUr from c. 2500 BCE which often been called one of the oldest board games, likely had some strategy...
Egyptian board game Mehen – another ancient Egyptian gameRoyalGameofUr – a Mesopotamian game played c. 3000 BCE Tâb – a Middle Eastern game that is sometimes...
The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood, Irving Finkel 2014, p.101, 104, 106 "RoyalGameofUr" (PDF). Getty. Retrieved 2 March 2022. "Irving...
the RoyalGameofUr unearthed in the royal cemetery of the Sumerian city ofUr dates to 2600 to 2400 BC. In 2006, a 3,500-year-old Senet game made of wood...
used in a ritual religious context. The RoyalGameofUr, or Gameof Twenty Squares was played with a set of pawns on a richly decorated board and dates...
hold'em, Five-card draw) Power Grid Puerto Rico Rock paper scissors RoyalGameofUr Rummikub Scrabble Senet Spades Stratego Tâb Ticket to Ride Tigris and...
Trictrac, Nard, and Acey-deucey. The ancient Egyptian game Senet and the ancient Mesopotamian RoyalGameofUr were almost certainly race games, and may belong...
Thicket, the RoyalGameofUr, and two bull-headed lyres. The department also has three diorite statues of the ruler Gudea from the ancient state of Lagash...
Babylonian RoyalGameofUr, thus suggesting that the pastries are meant to symbolize the pyramidal shape of the dice cast by Haman in determining the day of destruction...
senet and backgammon, now known as the "RoyalGameofUr". Mesopotamia, as shown by successive law codes, those of Urukagina, Lipit Ishtar and Hammurabi...
with other ancient board games. Hounds and Jackals, Twenty Squares or RoyalGameofUr and Senet are similar; all are race games for two players. Compared...
segments the color space (e.g. RGB, CMY). The RoyalGameofUr, dating from 2600 BC, was played with a set of tetrahedral dice. Especially in roleplaying...
Pakistani Urdu film directed by Kashif Nasir Aasha (board game), a variant of the ancient RoyalGameofUr This disambiguation page lists articles associated...
hot form at the top and Andrew Tye and Mujeeb Ur Rahman with the ball, the team went on to win 5 out of their first six games, eventually becoming favourites...
Ur Rahman; Keshav Maharaj Joins RR In Place Of Prasidh Krishna". IPLT20. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024. "Tanush Kotian joins Rajasthan Royals in...
Ur Rahman; Keshav Maharaj Joins RR In Place Of Prasidh Krishna". IPLT20. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024. "Tanush Kotian joins Rajasthan Royals in...
Imports to Ur reflect the cultural and trade connections of the Sumerian city ofUr. During the period of the Early Dynastic III royal cemetery (ca. 2600...
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