we figured out the rules a while ago, it’s a racing game where each player has multiple pieces they need to move along the board, and can interact in the center where they can capture one another and make that piece restart. movement on the board is determined by rolling a special die. the game is known as the royal game of ur
We can’t know for certain the rules we now attribute to this game are what were originally played though. The rules were essentially made up in a way that made sense to what the board looks like and what was found with it. There is no documentation on this found anywhere in history.
The video posted elsewhere in this thread shows a clay tablet containing an expanded ruleset from the Hellenistic period that allows the basic rules to be intuited with more confidence.
That’s cool, thanks for informing me
Ah even back then people were throwing out the instructions smh
Who needs 'em? Also if you land on free parking you get all the monies
no, you get to “park” wherever you want
It’s actually a quite good game. I hope to get mine signed by Irving Finkel. Sadly, he was not in when I bought a replica at the British Museum.
Yep, I have a copy. It’s pretty fun.
The tricky thing was we didn’t have the original rules, we had rules for how to modify it into a gambling game, written with the assumption that everyone already knew how to play, so we needed to derive the original rules from that.
Sounds just like Ludo
I wonder how archeologists would interpret Monopoly if they found only the game board
A game that had no winner and caused houses to split and fight to the death.
Where are the alien robots?
This looks a lot like the one Tom Scott played on his channel.
The Royal Game of Ur
Yep. I actually bought one of the replicas from the museum after I watched the video.
That wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
You got a link?
Not the original poster, but it’s on the British Museum’s channel: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I
The royal game of Ur was “unearthed” about 100 years ago. That website is pretty slow on the uptake.
You can buy copies of it on Amazon
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Video of it being played. The curator is amazing.
That was a fantastic video, thank you!! And yes the curator was amazing. The shade one can throw when using posh language…!
Beyond the curator, the music selection and timing was brilliant; I’ll check out some more videos. Thanks again!
Editing to add: that guy is an absolute gem. I watched some others and has brought to my life a joy I didn’t know I was missing
Yeah he’s amazing isn’t he!
What an interesting video, and what a peculiar curator. I think he’s great.
Are there any other videos where he gets into the more advanced rules written on the cuneiform tablet?
I seem to remember seeing some other videos with him. His name is Irving Finkel.
Knew before clicking it had to be Irving Finkel…my favourite influencer
He is such a dude!
Damn they made that game from rimworld 4000 years ago, didn’t know they also played it back then.
https://youtu.be/WZskjLq040I?si=4XbilaLzh0ltaccm
link is to a tom scott video about this game.
Jumanji!!!
A nearby Ouiji board spells out: Y O U R T U R N
5
4
3
2
1
0
Ouija board explodes and the lights start flickering. The front door slams shut and you can hear it locking.
Clearly fake. Not even my games with under a year use are in such good condition.
Commonly artistic items of game sets would be made for largely show purposes and rarely or never used. So it wouldn’t be surprising if it was made and then sealed in a box for a funeral wealthy collection or storage. We still do that with fancy metal dice that most people will never roll.
Makes sense. I’ve heard that rich people have no friends.
All the friends that money can buy!
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we know the rules now? it must be time to duel!
Oh the sights we have to show you
RIP Robin Williams
That picture is old, i have seen it years ago on some wikipedia article about boardgames. Basically historic “Man, Don’t Get Angry”
Oh its played with the fingers…
Not your own fingers!
