Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur is an ancient Mesopotamian race board game played by two players. Players roll tetrahedral dice to race seven pawns along a twenty-square board, capturing opponent pieces and landing on safe rosette squares.
AT A GLANCE
- ERA
- c. 2600 BC
- ORIGIN
- Mesopotamia
- PLAYERS
- 2 players
- EQUIPMENT
- Board, dice, 14 tokens
- PLAYING AREA
- 20-square board
- DURATION
- 15–30 min
- GOVERNING BODY
- None
- OLYMPIC
- No
Reconstructed rules (after Finkel)
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Board layout | 20 squares arranged in a 3×8 grid with a central bridge |
| Pieces | 7 pawns per player (traditionally light and dark) |
| Dice | 4 tetrahedral (four-sided) dice yielding rolls of 0 to 4 |
| Rosettes | 5 safe squares that grant an extra turn and block capture |
| Capturing | Landing on an opponent piece returns it to their start |
| Objective | Move all 7 pieces along the track and off the board first |
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 2600 BC | Earliest decorated game boards buried in Royal Cemetery of Ur |
| c. 177 BC | Babylonian scribe Itti-Marduk-balāṭu records board game rules |
| 1922–1934 | Sir Leonard Woolley excavates complete boards at Ur |
| 1980s | Irving Finkel translates clay tablet, reconstructing playable rules |
How a game works
Two players take turns rolling four tetrahedral dice to move seven pawns along a set track across twenty board squares. Landing on an opponent square sends their piece back to the start. Rosette squares offer safe landing spots and award an extra turn to the rolling player.
Scoring in one line
The first player to successfully navigate all seven pieces off the final square of the board wins the game.
Where it came from
Excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s at the Royal Cemetery of Ur, physical boards date back to at least 2600 BC. Modern reconstructions suggest it was played across the Middle East for over two millennia until replaced by early backgammon ancestors.
Royal Game of Ur today
Modern interest resurfaced after British Museum curator Irving Finkel translated a 177 BC Babylonian tablet detailing its rules. Today, museum replicas and digital adaptations make it one of the world's oldest continuously playable board games.
Run a Royal Game of Ur tournament
Brackets, fixtures and standings in your browser — 15–30 min.
FAQ
How old is the Royal Game of Ur?
The earliest excavated board fragments date to around 2600 BC, making the game over 4,500 years old.
How many players can play the Royal Game of Ur?
It is strictly a two-player strategy race game.
How do tetrahedral dice work in the game?
Players toss four triangular pyramidal dice with marked tips; the number of marked tips facing up determines the move distance from 0 to 4.