Royal Game of Ur

How to play

Unearthed from a royal tomb in Ur, in what is now Iraq, and roughly 4,500 years old — one of the earliest board games ever excavated, complete with its original rules tablet. Roll four pyramid-shaped dice and race seven pieces from your own lane, through a shared middle row contested by the AI, and off the far end.

Rules

  • Press Roll to throw the four dice (count the marked corners facing up, 0-4) and tap a highlighted piece to move it that many squares.
  • The rosette-marked flower squares are safe from capture and grant you another roll — the centre rosette on the shared middle row is the single most valuable square on the board.
  • Land on an AI piece anywhere in the shared middle row (except the centre rosette) to capture it, sending it back to the AI's start.
  • Bear off all seven of your pieces with an exact roll to win — pieces can only leave the board from the very last square.

Tips

The centre rosette is the key square — it's safe and gives a bonus roll, so grabbing it both protects you and denies the AI. Try to cross the exposed middle row in a single leap onto a rosette rather than parking somewhere you can be captured.