The Royal Game of Ur Essay

In this essay I’m going to talk about the royal game of Ur and what it is and what type of game it is and how it’s played. The royal game of Ur also known as the game of twenty squares it was found in the royal tombs of Ur in Iraq by Lenard Wolley in 1920. The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur probably the oldest set of board gaming equipment ever found. The board was known to be made of red limestone and lapis lazuli. The game is still played in Iraq. One of the two boards is exhibited in the collections of the British Museum in London. The Royal Game of Ur was played with two sets, one black and one white, of seven markers and three tetrahedral dice. The rules of the game as it was played in Mesopotamia are not known but there is a reliable reconstruction of game play based on a cuneiform tablet of Babylonian origin dating from 177–176 BC by the scribe Itti-Marduk-Balāṭu. It is universally agreed that the Royal Game of Ur, like Senet, is a race game both games may be predecessors to the present game of backgammon. The rules of the game are easy to follow but in some cases the rules can be different depending on what rules you decide to play with, there are four different set of rules for the game to be played with, the general rules are simple to understand. These were also the rules I decided to use even though the other rules would be good to use they were to complex for me to understand so I decided to use these rules instead of the more complicated rules then the game wouldn’t be fun to play. These are the rules i choice to play with and change.

General rules and Objectives

1.      Throw the dice to decide who plays first – highest score goes first, if it’s a draw throw again.

2.      Players take turns to throw three binary lots and move one of there pieces.

3.      Only one piece may be moved per throw of the dice and places must always move forward around the track.

4.      if a counter lands upon a square occupied by an opposing counter, the counter landed upon is sent of the board and must start again from the beginning.

These rules are easy to follow but can be hard when playing the game its easier to win but you would still need strategy also a good throwing hand even if you have a couple of counters left you can still win just by throwing a higher number the more spaces you move. The other rules can be harder to understand but once you know them its easier to play the game, R.C. Bells rules are bit harder to understand when playing each number have there own method of action in the game you can roll 0 and not move any spaces but in bells rules 0 is better for instead of the original rules 0 you don’t move but in Bells rules you move 4 space and throw the dice again nevertheless these rules can sometimes make you loss as a gambler even though you win the game you can the pot you played. In Eddies class we played the game of twenty squares (the Royal game of Ur) the game its self was quit interesting to play you can play for hours trying to stop the opponent from winning but you can end-up losing then you would want to play it again with planning and strategy. When i played the game we used the general rules and objective the game fun with downside of trying to roll the higher number then the opponent , i played a few times then began to think how i could make this game better? i began iterating how can i win by making the opponent lose? How can i have an advantage over the opponent i then played the game again but iterating as i was playing the game i rite some ideas of how i could make it better? Then I played the game again with the new rules I took one rule out added to new ones the rule I took out was if you landed on an opponents counter they lose there counter I changed it to if you landed on an opponents counter you move back one space. The new rules I put into the game were if you landed on a rosette square the opposite player moves back one space. The second rule was if you rolled 0 then both players would have to roll once the person with the highest number moves one space forward. I then began playing the game with my iterations the game was longer but fun I had to think how i could win which direction to move my counters what could I do to win and how to make the opponent lose I had to plan ahead and strategise my tactics to win. The rules worked really well with the game but sometimes it longer for the game to finish. I then tried the game with only one iteration I took the rule if you rolled 0 then both would have roll the dice higher number wins move one space forward out of the game then played again the game was better i could win the opponent could win we had equal opportunities of winning the game was balanced when played. I then began comparing the two game plays of the games most cases my iteration would make the game last longer with the opponents at an advantage the game could be won by any player. When I played the game with the original rules the game finished quick the player didn’t have much of an advantage over the opponent you didn’t really have to plan even though both rules worked sometimes the games would end up with the same results both results would show different ways of winning example: the first game play with no iterations the player would win by taking out all my counters by landing on them with the gaming straight away nevertheless the rules I used for the game would be equal to each opponent with more opportunities to plan your game play and win every time I played it would be so close between the players. Overall the game was interesting to play the style of the board was different to many games played now but the game was fun I thought the board looked good with amazing ancient art work I think the could be better maybe adding new rules extending the board for a wider range of game play also add more players that would be interesting four players who would have the advantage also you would need to plan more ahead deciding what would happen if i did this how could I stop the opposing players from winning could also add trivia in the Example: if you rolled 0 then you get answered a question if you get it right move forward one space if you get it wrong miss a go. There will be so much more competition between players some players would have an advantage if they new the answer to the question. If I had more time I would of design a new board with alternative symbols on the board i would of created new rules with more players getting feedback from other students of what they wanted implemented in the game then played it to see what could be added or changed. Even though the game was old I still enjoyed playing it with and without my iterations. I think the game is extraordinaire in its own way from the past to now the game has been a good experience to play to know what it feels like to play one of the first ever games found an experienced never to forget there’s probably thousands more games yet to be discovered who know one day we could be playing them games.