Historical Board Game - The Royal Game of Ur

▪ General information

Game of Ur is the oldest known board game with understood rules. It was played by people across the world since Ancient Mesopotamia. This two-player game combines strategy and chance. There are two versions of the rules: a simple one and a more complex one. They differ in the movement path, and the symbols on the board have various effects.

▪ Graphic information

The Game of Ur features an elegant wooden game board with symbols, simple tokens in two colors, and traditional four-sided dice. It retains the original shape of the game board and its symbolic elements but is presented in a minimalist and functional design. Unlike the historical version, which was richly decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays and intricate patterns, our version focuses on clarity and aesthetic simplicity while still paying homage to the original game.

▪ History of the origin

The Game of Ur, also known as the Royal Game of Ur, is one of the oldest known board games in the world. It was discovered in the 1920s during archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Ur, located in present-day Iraq. The game board, dating back to around 2500 BCE, was made from luxurious materials like wood, mother-of-pearl, and lapis lazuli. The rules of the Game of Ur were reconstructed in 1980 by British archaeologist Irving Finkel from Babylonian clay tablets.

The game was likely used not only for entertainment but also for divination. Players aimed to move all their pieces from one side of the board to the other, with their progress determined by dice rolls. While the rules may have varied by location and time, the basic objective was to race the pieces across the board. Due to its richness and history, the Game of Ur is considered a significant part of the evolution of board games, maintaining its place in history as one of the first games to blend entertainment with the religious and social aspects of ancient civilizations.

▪ Designer and Publisher

Bear Games