Ancient Origins

Full guide and sources ·

Royal Game of Ur

One-page race rules. This is a modern reconstruction of a simple game, not a translation of the tablet written in Babylon on 3 November 177/176 BC. Full guide: https://www.ancient-origins.net/games/royal-game-of-ur/

What you need

  • The twenty-square board.
  • Seven pieces each. Your pieces match each other. The two sides look different.
  • Four tetrahedral dice, two corners of each marked. Four coins work as a stand-in. Heads counts as a mark.

The throw

  • Throw all four. Count the marked corners that land up: 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.
  • Move one piece by the whole count. Do not split it.
  • A throw of 0 ends the turn.
  • If a legal move exists, take one. If none does, pass.

Setup

The board starts empty. Pieces wait off the board. Agree which row is yours. Decide who starts. A common modern habit is: higher throw starts, then that player throws again to move. That opening is not from the tablet.

Route

Enter on your own row at the square beside the bridge and move outward to the corner rosette (squares 1–4). Travel the whole middle left to right (5–12). Then step onto the outer star (13) and the flower beside the plain panel (14). Your opponent mirrors you and shares the middle, same direction.

The rosettes on this route are squares 4, 8, and 14. Square 8 is the shared safe flower. Square 13 is not a rosette. Bear off from square 14 with a 1.

Capture and rosettes

  • Squares 1–4 and 13–14 are private. No capture there.
  • Squares 5–12 are shared. Landing on an opponent sends that piece off the board to start again.
  • You may not land on your own piece. You may jump any piece.
  • A rosette is safe, and landing on one earns another throw. You may jump a piece on a rosette. You may not land on it. Capture protection only changes play on square 8.

Winning

Bear off with an exact count. From 14 you need 1, from 13 you need 2, from 12 you need 3, from 11 you need 4. First to bear off all seven wins.

Route on the Ancient Origins Royal Game of Ur boardTwenty squares. The wide block of four by three is on the left. A two-square bridge continues the middle row. The narrow block of two by three is on the right. The panels above and below the bridge are blank wood, not squares. Five eight-petal rosettes sit at the outer corners of the wide block, on the middle square just before the bridge, and on the narrow-block squares next to the blank panels. For the player on the lower row the route is numbered 1 to 14. Rosettes fall on squares 4, 8, and 14. Square 13 is the outer star, not a rosette. The other player mirrors this on the top row and shares the middle, moving left to right.

On a small screen, swipe the board sideways. The narrow end is on the right.

Near player numbered. Flowers on that route: squares 4, 8, and 14. Square 13 is the outer star. Dashed line: the other player's private squares. Both share the middle and move left to right.