Senet

How to play

The oldest board game we know of, played on the Nile as far back as 3100 BC and found painted on the walls of Egyptian tombs. Cast four flat throwing sticks and race your five cones along an S-shaped track of 30 squares, from the near corner all the way off the board.

Rules

  • Press Throw sticks to cast four sticks; the number of light faces up is your move (0 up counts as a bonus throw of 5).
  • Move any of your cones forward that many squares. Landing on a lone AI cone swaps it back to your square instead of capturing it.
  • Squares 26, 28 and 29 are safe houses no cone can be swapped from; square 27 is the Waters of Chaos — land there and you're sent back near square 15.
  • Throws of 1, 4 or 5 earn you another throw. Bear all five cones off the far end first to win — squares 28-30 need the exact number.

Tips

Keep your cones in guarded pairs — a cone with a friendly cone right beside it can't be swapped by the AI. Save your exact throws (1, 2, 3) for the final three houses, since overshooting there just wastes the throw.